I moved to Fresno, CA when I was ten years old, in the middle of the summer. The one thing I heard about from my relatives that already lived there was the summer. Since my family and I were moving from the bay area, we were warned in advance that most summer days peaked over 100 degrees fahrenheit.

Before moving to Fresno, the only day I remember it being 100 degrees, it was on a school day in fifth grade. I remember the teachers not letting my fellow classmates and I outside, deeming it a 'red alert day'. However, in Fresno, it seemed to be a typical summer day, although my mother would make sure I didn't play outside in the afternoon during that first summer. After living in Central California for over 15 years, I have learned to endure and even enjoy the summer heat.

A main advantage of sweltering summer heat is the ability to enter a swimming pool anytime of the day and not worry about the cold most of us experience when exiting the pool. This is especially true of night swimming. When it is over 100 degrees in the day and in the low nineties through most of the night, there is no need to worry about shivering and being freezing cold after exiting the pool.

In fact, the cold air is a welcome change to the hot weather. Entering the pool on a sweltering summer day can be refreshing, especially when stepping outside your home feels like entering an oven.

There are some people that cannot acclimate to the heat. I still have family outside of the area that refuse to enter our home unless the A.C is on full blast if they are visiting over the summer, and will usually not want to do anything outside until the evening. I still hear friends and family who live in the area, and begin to complain about the summer heat the first day triple digits appear.

Although it took a few summers to get used to the heat, I faced the fact that I couldn't change it. As long as I kept the A.C and fans running throughout my house, wore sunscreen whenever I had to do anything outdoors, and made sure I was fully hydrated, I knew that there was little else I could do. After deciding that I shouldn't let the summer heat affect my mood, I started to enjoy the heat.

I can no longer imagine summer without the hot temperatures. Whenever I take trips out of town during the summer, I now find it funny when I see people blasting their car air conditioner when it was 85 degrees outside. Meanwhile, I usually have my windows rolled down in order to enjoy the 'cooler' weather, and don't think to turn on my A.C until its at least 95 degrees outside.