Woman in the Heat

We have been in a heat wave in this part of the country for a couple of months now.  Weather usually above 30 degrees (Celsius) every day, it’s not a normal summer for us.  Usually we have one or two days of over 30 deg., rain at least once a week to cool things down.  We have has almost no rain, maybe one or two days out of the month.  This is causing some major problems.  I thought our biggest problem was going to be a drought, but it turns out it’s brush fires.  The fields and lawns are so dry, it doesn’t take much to start a fire.  Again, we have never had this big a problem.  My sister in another part of town saw the burning fields, really scary.  Nothing happened, she is fine, I’m sure nothing like in other parts of the world, but very unusual for this area. 

This weather is causing problems for me, in the wardrobe department. A few things happened to me when I was down in Halifax for that wedding that are a little un-lady like to talk about, but I’m going to anyway.  To start off, I had bought a new blouse while I was there.  It was a nice grey crepe.  I sweated through this on the walk over and in the un-air conditioned church.  This shirt happens to show every bead of sweat that I produce, with a dark ring.  It happened with all types of moisture, I spilled a little from my water glass on my shirt, and after the water dried, a ring remained.  Lovely,  not a whole lot that I can do about it, hopefully no one looked at me that closely.  I danced with my arms down at my side. 

I was wearing a pair of strappy sandals with heels.  The heat melted off one of the rubber soles from the heel, so I had an uneven “clip, clop” of a walk back to the hotel.  It was so hot, that my feet were sweating as well, and rubbing in my sandals.  Huge blisters occurred.  You would think that my feet being open and airy in sandals this wouldn’t happen, but it happens to me every time.  It’s not like I can wear socks to a wedding!  Maybe I should make myself some fancy socks to avoid this problem.  I have never understood how women can wear closed toe heels with nothing else on their feet.  My feet would be way too hot, and start sliding around, causing all sorts of painful problems! 

I was also wearing a skirt.  I guess you would say I am a full figured woman.  When I stand, my thighs touch.  So, walking around in a skirt , my thighs to rub together.  This starts to hurt after a while in the heat!  This makes a nice red mark on my thigh, which makes it uncomfortable to do anything, sitting or walking, everything rubs against the sore spot.  One takes to sitting, un-ladylike with legs spread and walking like a bowlegged cowboy, just to avoid the rubbing.  I know women wear skirts in public in the summer, how do they avoid this problem?  Is there a product I could rub into my thighs to make them glide against each other?  Do I develop a thigh callus?  I don’t get it. 

I have, of course, been wearing my wedding and engagement rings, together on one hand.  The heat is giving me a rash under them!  I really want to wear my rings, but the rash is just so itchy!

All these problems are caused by what I feel society expects me to wear.  It’s fancier if you were heels, heels are more uncomfortable than flats, the majority of the time.  I feel I would be judged, or inappropriately dressed if I wore pants, flats and a mesh T shirt to a wedding, but otherwise, I really don’t know how to solve any of my heat wave problems.  I feel I am missing some important woman knowledge.  Was there a class in school that I missed where they discussed these things?  When other women get together, do they chat about this and share tips?  I am just going to do what I’m sure every other woman does about one thing or another, suck it up and deal with the pain, cursing men that are not plagued with these problems.