Normal For Lawrence

The beautiful thing about spending the summer in the Midwest is that it makes me feel like a child.

Every single green tree and dense foliage and blue-black thunderstorm sky and country road makes me excited. Everywhere I go, I point out how green it is or something equally obvious. But I can't help it.

Even the heat here is different, and I already knew that.

But I hadn't experienced it.

I've never had a summer where people actually emerge and do things they can't during the rest of the year. In Arizona, we settle in for a long summer's hibernation (also known as aestivation, for all of you fools who didn't know).

But here, Farmer's Markets thrive and what few pools there are become over-crowded. Work out groups cover the high school football field, and someone is always running or walking a dog.

So far, Kansas, I'm loving you. Even though your heavy 90 degrees makes me feel like I can't even walk from the parking lot to work. Mimi is also to blame for that since her black exterior pretty much cooks me every time I even come near.

As I write this, I'm sitting in the porch and watching a shirtless, bearded old man water trees that don't need to be watered.

Madi came out and I asked her if that was normal.

"Normal for Lawrence," she said.

And there you have it.