Be Careful What You Wish For...

Every time I complain about Wisconsin's heat, my mom asks, "you realize it's summer here, right?"

As (transplant) Texans, by the time July rolls around we need a break from the approximately 153 months of summer already endured. We long to once again experience a crisp morning or chilly evening. We struggle to recall how luxurious a soft, cozy sweatshirt would feel against our skin. We look forward to once again getting through the day with only one shower, instead of two or three. (No? Maybe it's just me then?)

So yes, I know the month of July falls midway through the season of summer. But I can't help hoping for record low temperatures - rather than record high temperatures, which we seem to bring with us from Texas to Wisconsin - during our annual visits north.

These last 10 days have looked and felt like summer in Texas rather than summer in Wisconsin. On Thursday night, I took a screen capture of the weather app on my phone and posted it to Facebook along with the complaint, "This is NOT what I signed up for, Wisconsin".

My parents and I then set out to walk the four-mile round trip (because why wouldn't you plan walk four miles in 93 degrees and nearly 100% humidity?!) to one of my mom's favorite bars/restaurants for a drink and dinner. Because of the direction we traveled, we didn't notice the ominous storm clouds rolling in from one of side of town; it wasn't until we found our table and settled down for a beer that we realized what kind of weather loomed nearby.

While we enjoyed our drinks and dinner the sky grew darker and darker. Then, in the span of under a minute, the televisions froze, a bright bolt of lightening - followed by a booming clap of thunder - shocked the bar's patrons, and the clouds opened to release that which they could no longer hold. Oh, and in the middle of all this, every single cell phone in the bar went off, sharing news of the newly issued severe thunderstorm warning, flood warning, and tornado watch with its owner.

I live for good storms, but if you recall, we had walked two miles to the bar. We stepped outside to see if we might be able to walk home, but venturing out beyond the covered front porch of the bar seemed unwise, given the crashing thunder, frequent lightening, torrential rains, sideways winds, and - yep - 20-degree drop in temperature.

Apparently my prayers for cooler weather were answered...and as a bonus gift, I received the storm of the summer.

We called a cab for a ride home: the driver had to pull onto the sidewalk in order for us to get into the car (the street in front of the bar had already flooded) and then had to take a detour to get home because of downed trees and power lines in our neighborhood. 

Oh, and while I enjoyed that evening's break in the heat tremendously, the following morning the temperatures and humidity flew right back up to where they'd been the afternoon before. Like I said, "Wisconsin, this is NOT what I signed up for".