Heat wave’s subtle reminder that we’re lucky

Every year when summer

rolls around we celebrate

the official time of year

when the beach and backyard

cookouts are common

activities on the weekends.

Yet, we seem to forget that

summer means the weather

will be getting hotter than

usual. While that seems like

a common sense idea, we

don’t seem to live in a common

sense world when it

comes to the summer heat.

The last couple of weeks

have been rather warm in

sunny Southern California

and with the increased temperature

you get all sorts of

references and complaints

about the weather. Everyone

has a right to complain

about the heat because it

is not comfortable to sweat

while you stand outside

waiting for the bus, or while

you wait at a red light for

your turn to go. However,

the occasional heat waves

that come down on us

should be a reminder to us

that we have it better than

most of the country when

it comes to weather. While

states in the east coast and

the South have to deal with

hurricane-causing humidity

all summer long; we only

have to deal with heat in the

90s a few times a year and

sometimes it doesn’t even

happen in the summer.

I remember between

2001 and 2003 my dad was

nice enough to offer me a

job working with him outdoors.

For almost two years,

my dad (Ralph), my uncle

(Heli) and I would wake up

at 5 a.m. or so and hit the

road to build tennis courts,

basketball courts, driveways

and any other structure that

required pouring cement.

The pay was good and working

with my dad and uncle

was an amazing learning

experience. I learned that

waking up early and being

productive is one of the

best feelings in the world; I

discovered that having coffee

and a cigarette with my

dad in the morning was one

of the best bonding experiences

I will ever have; and

I also realized that the only

thing worse than a heat

wave it working outside for

eight hours during a heat

wave.

It seemed that every

project we worked on was

in Rancho Cucamonga,

Ontario or Monrovia. If we

were lucky, we got to work

in the San Fernando Valley,

where the heat doesn’t necessarily

tone down but at

least we were closer to home

(Inglewood). The work was

hard, tiring and at times

painful but we were happy

doing it every day. Sometime

in 2003 my dad’s back

started to hurt and I realized

that unless I wanted to be

a contractor, construction

was not the field for me. So I

asked my dad if I could quit

the job to go back to school.

“If you go back to school, go

to school” was his response,

which was backed up by my

mom.

At 23 and after five years

out of school, I registered

at El Camino College and

started from zero, all the

while my dad woke up at 5

a.m., took my mom to work

and then made his way to

work only to come home

and enjoy what was left of

the day with the family and

some cold beer. Mom and

dad never asked for rent

money or that I pay bills:

all they required was that

school be taken serious and

it was. My dad shoveled dirt

with the sun on his back

while my mom stood on her

feet all day as a lab assistant

so that I could go to school

and not have to worry about

money. From El Camino

to San Diego State to Cal

State Long Beach, they went

about their day while I sat

in a classroom taking notes

and trying to graduate.

So when the weather gets

hot for a week or two and it

feels like we are in a bakery

oven when I step outside to

interview a source, or to take

pictures for the front page, I

am reminded of how lucky

I am. It reminds me how

lucky I am to live in the Los

Angeles area, near multiple

beaches. It reminds me how

lucky I am to have worked

with my dad and uncle for

two years during which time

we bonded through smoke

breaks and traffic jams.

More importantly, it’s a

reminder of how lucky I am

that my dad worked a backbreaking

job while my mom

was on her feet all day as a

lab assistant so that I could

go to school. While the heat

is a bit of an inconvenience,

I am lucky to have it.