I was just walking across campus and it's 59 and cloudy outside. It felt absolutely delightful. Makes me want to hibernate. Even though I grew up in Texas, I have always been very intolerant of heat. VERY intolerant. I have to have it very cold in my house in order to sleep. When I lived in Denver, I would often walk around in the snow without a coat on. That isn't to say that I don't get cold. I do. But I really like cooler weather.
As I was reveling in the cool air, I wondered whether my partiality to this weather might not have something to do with genetics. Maybe my ancestors came from cooler climes and I am genetically predisposed to those temperatures. Eh....probably not. But it's fun to think about.
My birth father was 6'2" tall, Mexican, dark-skinned with dark hair. My birth mother was 5'4" tall, Irish, blonde and fair-skinned. I ended up 5'7" tall, dark brown hair, fair skinned and freckled with blue-grey eyes. Funny, huh? Did my physical ancestors labor in the heat of Tenochtitlan? Or were they crossing the cool green fields of Ireland? Or both? Do we carry physical memories or environmental predispositions in our DNA? I don't believe in reincarnation but when I was in Mexico a long time ago visiting some of the Aztec ruins, I had a strong sense of homesickness. It was so strange. The place felt familiar to me and yet I had never seen it before. I wonder if I would feel the same thing in Ireland.
I think this weather is making me wishy-washy. Pardon my eccentricity...
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I'm terribly heat-intolerant, too. I hate, hate, hate summer in the Deep South because I'm trapped indoors! I'm entirely a product of my Northern European ancestry in skin tone, eye color and hair. So, you never know. Maybe I need to move to Northern Europe to cool off. :)
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