Are You Kidding?

A few days ago I was waiting in line at the Chase branch near Pavilions. I’ve only been here 19 months and still haven’t quite mastered the names of the various shopping centers.  The people working at Chase couldn’t be nicer, and they give me money whenever I want it.  Of course, it’s the money I’ve already put into my account, but it feels like they are giving me somebody else’s money, which is why I enjoy going there so often.


I can’t believe it, but they actually give me money without my having to write out a check or use the ATM machine.  All I have to do is swipe my card, put in a code, and the teller delivers.  Now the rest of the world has been doing this for years, but I spend most of my life playing catch-up, so to me this is another miracle of modern technology.

While standing in line, I overheard another customer proclaim, “Finally, a beautiful day!”  That got my “old country” juices flowing, “Are you kidding?” I asked rhetorically. Before she could get a word in edgewise, I continued, “ Since I moved to Malibu virtually every day has been beautiful! You natives sure are a demanding bunch. You don’t know what bad weather is.”

The lady introduced herself as Victoria. She could not have been more charming or friendly. She explained that she was born on Point Dume and has been there ever since, and yes, she is used to exceptionally good weather.  Anybody else would have taken my verbal onslaught defensively, but she laughed and was thoroughly amused.  Bless Victoria.

The fact is if we get a few days of hot weather, we act as if the world is coming to an end.  It doesn’t matter that part of Boulder is underwater and the University of Colorado had to cancel classes, or they had to shut down the Baltimore/Washington airport because of lightning. We expect blue skies, and a high of 75 and a low of 65 each and every day . Otherwise we are downright disappointed.

This attitude of high expectations is apparently contagious. Little by little I find I am succumbing to it.  A couple of weeks ago temperatures went into the 80’s, and I actually had to turn on my air conditioner for a few hours. I bemoaned my fate and blamed it all on global warming.