TEMPERATURE

2 a: degree of hotness or coldness measured on a definite scale b: the degree of heat that is natural to the body of a living being

The air conditioner in our van is broken. It blows some cold air, but only through the defrost, not through any of the vents scattered around the van. We’ve known this for a few months, but there’s never an ideal time to be without our vehicle for a few days and it hasn’t been warm enough to make the lack of air conditioning a real issue. Until today. Today we took a seven hour road trip… to southern Alabama.

If you’ve never been to southern Alabama (I’m talking Gulf Coast here), it’s hot. In this part of the country, “winter” (such as it is) skips right over spring and runs headlong into summer. I realize it’s not yet May, but I packed sleeveless tops, skirts and flip flops for my daughters to wear this weekend. I know they will not be cold.

J, however, is another story. Since the air conditioner on the van only blows through the defrost, he’s been freezing for about 100 miles. While he has icebergs forming in his ears, A is so warm back in the third row of the van that she’s taken her shirt off. That’s right, my eldest daughter is topless and thanks to tinted windows and her small stature, I’m not even making an issue of it. I feel so bad about the balmy temperature of the van that I figure if taking her shirt off makes her more comfortable, so be it.

Never one to let an opportunity like this pass her by, K has removed her shirt as well. As Kate’s reasoning goes, if her sister gets to do it, so should she.

I am still fully clothed. My own personal solution has been to drape B’s blanket over the visor to the side of my window. It’s blocking the sun that beats down on me as we drive southward. We may look odd to passersby. In fact, I’m pretty sure we do. But tempers flare when the temperature gets off, so right now we’re doing whatever it takes to keep everyone cool.