Lessons Learned

It is day 18 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge and NaBloPoMo.  Today's post is in response to this week's blog hop prompt from the Writer's Post host Suzy Que of Reflections of My Soul.

    Over the years I have learned some pretty important things about myself.  I don’t handle heat well and I must drink water.   With the Elkhart County 4H Fair starting tomorrow and the happy weather man threatening over 100 degree heat indexes you can bet I am guzzling water, and have been.

      I go to the fair every year and have my whole life.  I was a 4H member, and now both of my kids participate in 4H.  Not going to the fair is not even an option for me.  I have to go.  I have to know how the kids did on their projects.  Forget that the fair comes at the hottest time of the year.  Forget that a couple years ago I went toe up while at the fair from heat stroke and dehydration.  I learned it is not fun to be vomiting nonstop anywhere but at home.  Not that it is fun at home, but it is a nightmare to be in a medical building at the fairgrounds wondering if you are ever going to stop upchucking and be able to go home.

     Since then, I approach time at the fair with a sense of fear and trepidation.  I don’t want to ever experience what I did again.  So I drink tons of water.  Because I love my kids and want to see their projects first hand, I put aside my fears and go.  I learned an important lesson from that experience.  No matter how much I love to drink soda pop or anything else, water is essential to good health.  It makes up 60% of your body and helps everything in it function properly.  Without it, your body begins to shut down.   A little dehydration can lead to difficulty focusing on small print, trouble with basic math, and completely screws your ability to remember things.  Feeling a bit loopy, drink some water!!  It lubricates the joints and keeps blood flowing for proper circulation.    With the human brain made up of 95% water you can just imagine what happens if you are dehydrated.  Everything goes to hell in a hand basket in a big ass hurry.

 
       I felt like I was going to die that day.  I was weak and fatigued and could barely summon enough energy to walk, nor did I want to.    With the heat topping out in the 100’s, it makes dehydration even more likely and serious of a business.  So I lived to tell the tale, and I learned to drink more water.   I still am terrified of going to the fair because of what happened but I refuse to live in fear.  I choose to combat the heat staying hydrated, using the brains the good Lord gave me, and live my life to the fullest one day at a time.

Hot or Cold?

      The question from NaBloPoMo today is whether I would rather have it very hot or very cold outside.  This is an easy one for me.  When given the choice if I would rather freeze my a$$ off or sweat like a pig I will go with freezing my a$$ off every single time.

       I have suffered heat stroke many times in my life.  I am just not a person that can handle the heat at all.  My first major run in with heat stroke was when I decided to take up using a tanning bed.  I worked next door to a tanning store at the time, so it seemed only natural to drift next door and sign up for a package.  I bought a tube of Swedish Beauty tanning lotion, lathered up, and prepared to bake in the tanning bed.  One night I just became entirely too hot during my tanning session.  I rushed home feeling unwell where I proceeded to vomit uncontrollably.  My boss at the time had been worried about me and decided to stop by and check up on me after she closed up for the night.  She found me deathly sick, burning up, and with a violent case of the chills.  She ran me a bath of tepid water and stayed with me until I began to feel better.  A doctor later confirmed I had a heat stroke and to be very careful in the future.  I gave up tanning beds after that little nightmare.

       

      It is always hotter than the blazes of hell when our county fair is in full swing.  Last year I desperately wanted to take my kids for wristband day at the fair.  My husband was home and we were going to go as a family.  We waited while our kids lined up and rode the rides.  All of a sudden I felt unwell and dizzy.  I went directly to the medical building at the fairgrounds where I proceeded to vomit uncontrollably until I was given a shot to stop me.  I was severely dehydrated and once again suffering from heat stroke.

        After that little catastrophe I realize I just don’t handle the heat well.  On the flipside of the coin, I love snow and the bitter cold that goes with it.  When it is cold outside you can always add another layer of clothing and be moving right along.  When it is hotter than the blazes of hell, all you can do is strip down and stay in the air conditioning.    Unless you live at the Playboy mansion, walking around naked just isn’t acceptable.  Armed with air conditioners and a swimming pool, I am ready to endure the summer heat while continuing to dream of future white Christmas’s until next time when I give you another glimpse into the life of a trucker’s wife.