IT is here...

I could sense it coming last night as I worked in the office. It was about 9pm and I had the windows open. The dark night was lit up by the occasional bolts of lightening amidst cracks of thunder.

Of course my kids got out of bed claiming they were scared.

IT scares me too...although not in the way you might imagine.

I can't exactly pinpoint when I knew. Was it the small beads of perspiration that I unconsciously wiped from my brow? Was it the smeared eyeliner and mascara that I could sense UNDER my eyes, rather than on them? More likely, it was the weight of "desperately-in-need-of-a-haircut" locks...getting heavier and heavier, straighter and straighter.

It's hard to imagine that hair as straight as mine can actually get straighter. But, it can. Especially when IT comes.

IT would be humidity.

It's always worse after a shower. Turning on the blow-dryer is just like adding salt to a wound. It never fails....I finish a workout, sweating like crazy...and I shower. Then, I attempt to towel off, get dressed and get on with the day. At some point in the process you wonder, "Am I still wet from the shower? Why are my clothes sticking to me? Is it really possible that I am sweating again? Has my hair actually dried....and is now wet because of sweat? Or has my hair-dryer quit functioning properly?"

These are perplexing questions. Questions which surface yearly -- on days like today when the paper reports that due to temperature and humidity, it will feel like 92 degrees by 4pm. It's 3:43 and my thermostat says the relative humidity in the house is 65%.

Hello ponytails...