I spent the first 24 years of my life in Southern California, first in the Los Angeles area and then San Diego, with plenty of time at the beach. The smog in LA was horrific during my childhood, but there was always sunshine and no humidity. Sometimes it turned hot, but usually the climate was warm and pleasant, with the sun almost always shining (we did have rainy days now and again though). I have no bad memories of truly uncomfortable heat, even at my schools, which were not air conditioned. The weather was mild year-round except it seemed for around two weeks in late September/early October when the Santa Ana winds arrived and temperatures would climb to over 100 degrees for about a week or so.

I took all that beautiful California weather for granted.

I like seasons . . . sort of. I like rain . . . for a while. I like cold . . . for a while. Snow is okay as long as I can stay indoors. However, I despise humidity and only tolerate it because I have to. While I don’t care for hot weather as much as I did in the past, I can deal with it as long as humidity isn’t involved.

I am so very, very, very tired of dealing with humidity. Brett and I lived in the east (Florida and Maryland) for years while Brett was in the navy and neither of us could wait to get out from under the humidity in those places (Maryland’s was brutal), but we went to Japan after that and had to continue to deal with it again. I think one of the reasons I loved living in Portland for so many years was because although it was wet, it was never humid. It wasn’t the rain that got me down either; rather, it was the ongoing gloom and overcast that lasted for months. While Hawaii’s almost daily sunshine and warmth was wonderful, the full-time humidity there could be miserable. The trade winds kept humidity levels bearable for most of the time, but the winds stopped during the summer and into the fall and when they were gone temperatures started climbing along with the humidity levels. Life got wet, drippy, and downright uncomfortable. Summers in Japan have become increasingly hot and humid, and there is not enough money in the world to get me to go there again in the summer. It’s been the same in Tennessee. As the temperature and humidity levels (and allergens) start rising each spring I become a different person and I don’t want to be outside for any reason. Fall and spring weather here used to be something to look forward to but these days we seem to segue right from winter into summer, and then stay in summer way too long. We had what seemed like less than a week of crisp, cool fall weather last year, and temperatures were nearly in the 80s for a few days in December.

When we leave Tennessee we will be heading west. That’s all we know for sure now. We have no idea where in the west we’ll go but Brett and I are in agreement that we are going to ditch the humidity for good and embrace a warmer place. Southern California calls to us, but the cost of living is right up there with Hawaii. We have the skills and income to deal with it but don’t think it’s in our best interest to do that at this stage of our lives (which why we have given up on going back to Hawaii). Tucson is once again calling to us, and to our surprise so is Mexico. This country feels too crazy right now though to make any sort of decision about the future but we’re going to (have to) make one fairly soon. Stay tuned!