I said that to Keith yesterday, as we were lying on the floor of the kitchen with the AC on the counter, a handtowel in place to direct the air as downward on us as possible, pillows propping our heads up a little bit. We were holding hands (more like stroking one another’s fingers, as it was far too hot for hand-holding) and laughing that the temperature going over 100 even here by the beach had actually put our cats in comas. They were all spread out on the floor too, panting listlessly.

“This is one of the things we’ll remember,” I said. “You know, when we’re old and thinking about when we weren’t?” “Yeah,” Keith agreed. It was nice.

Today was easily five degrees cooler, which really made a difference. I was actually able to get some work done today. Not as much as I needed to do, having lost yesterday to a morning in a tub filled with cool water and an afternoon on the kitchen floor, after having begged Keith to come home and bring the AC that has been living in the trunk of his car for six weeks. (He’s at Nelson’s while I’m here, babysitting sweet animals. Since it’s hotter there, I have to stay here until this heat wave breaks or risk a major migraine. Again.)

Today I was also able to run the dishwasher. The joy I received from doing so reminded me of the episode of Roseanne in which she receives a dishwasher for the first time in her life. She’s sitting on the counter, filled with glee, as she runs the dishwasher for the first time. Dan asks if she’d like a beer. “Yeah! But pour it into a glass and bring it to me on a plate!” That’s how I felt, at not having to hand-wash a damn thing. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a dishwasher. I forget how much I enjoy that luxury.

Keith and I have made a shift in our lives, the type of work we are doing, and the number of relationships we are developing to the extent that we are beginning to rethink accepting “side gigs” like pet-sitting. It’s sad, in a way. A part of my life is now looking like my past and nothing else. I used to live in a studio apartment and LIVE for pet-sitting gigs, when I could stay in the home of someone with more money than I could ever dream to have and enjoy luxuries like ROOMS (plural), a bathTUB (rather than a shower stall), AC, cable TV (rather than rabbit-ears and a 13″ TV from Sears)… all while enjoying animal affection (so in need of emotional contact) and a paycheck I sorely needed. Now I look around my world and I see ROOMS, a bathTUB and one of those really cool “rainfall” showerheads, AC, DirecTV with TiVo to boot on Keith’s 27″ TV with surround sound that I finally let him set up (too loud for neighbors at the old place)… and I have three wonderful kitties scurrying around and a fiancé who will stop the world to take care of me, if I ask (and even sometimes when I don’t).

I’d say I have my drink in a glass on a plate now.