“All your attempts to save yourself from me will fail,” said the sun. John Green taught us that the world is not a wish-granting factory, but is it really too much to ask for a little relief from the Mississippi heat as October quickly approaches??
Temperatures in the nineties are able to be dealt with during the summer, when you can beat the heat by jumping in the pool every twenty minutes. Even one-hundred degree, humid temperatures are doable when you are laying on the beach with a koozie in hand and an ocean breeze in your hair.
However, when it is already fall and you are back at school having to walk extreme distances to and from all of your classes, you tend to find the fault in our sun—that it’s too dang hot.
The top three faults in our sun:
1. You cannot leave anything in your car, especially not a carbonated drink, which in my case is the thing I’m most likely to leave in my car. Unless you want to sit in a sticky mess and have your rear-view mirror splattered with hot sprite, get EVERYTHING out of your car before you leave it to blister in the sun.
2. There is no point in showering unless you are inside for the remainder of the day. Just woke up and want to be fresh for class? After the walk to the classroom, you’ll be less clean than you were when you woke up. Just got home from school and want to shower so you don’t have to sit in sweat the rest of the day? If you’ve got to drive through McDonald’s for dinner in a few hours, the heat of your car will erase any signs of cleanliness. Basically, you are forever a dirty, sweaty mess.
3. You are also forever stuck in your summer wardrobe. T-shirts, strappy tank tops, and flip flops are thrilling when summer first begins, but after five long months of living in sports bras and Nike shorts, we are all ready to pull out our cardigans and boot socks. Not to mention that you can’t buy any new clothes because all the boutiques are only selling fall clothes - Ya know, because it is actually fall - but a piece of your heart breaks to pay for a knit sweater that you won’t be able to wear for at least another month and a half.
John Green smartly pointed out that the universe wants to be noticed, and everyone in the state of Mississippi can say that, without a doubt, the universe has been noticed this summer. Augustus Waters may not have minded having his heart broken by Hazel Grace, but continuing to melt in the sun has become anything but a privilege. The smartest thing Augustus ever observed is that “the sun will swallow the only earth we’ve ever had,” and lately it’s feeling like that time is coming nearer and nearer.
As Hazel Grace begged her parents to back off a little, so we ask the same of the blistering sun. Okay? Okay.
