Cold.

You have no idea how foreign it feels for me to be in the position of admitting I am cold almost all the time.

I have spent most of my life as a big-time perspirer. I sweated in the summer. I sweated in the winter.

You’d think someone who perspired like that would hate the summer, but it wasn’t true. I hated winter. I was unable to dress appropriately — dressing warmly made me sweat, so I avoided that and wound up freezing in winter.

In summer, thanks to the miracle of modern air conditioning, I could be comfortable, and so, I was, as much as possible.

But lately, I’m cold almost all the time.

There’s a good bet my being cold has a lot to do with me being anemic lately, and that comes from my chemotherapy, I gather.

Whatever the reason, sheesh. This is for the birds. Sweat shirts. Sweat pants. I’ve not only bought a fleece pullover, I’ve bought TWO of them. I not only bought a denim jacket, I’ve bought two, and the second is fleece-lined.

Feeling the cold so severely has affected my therapeutic sessions watching the river roll by, unfortunately. What once would have been a comfortable 66-degree day has become a really chilly day as the breeze blows close to the Delaware River and, on some of those days, I just cannot dress warmly enough. I sit on an iron bench with a leather jacket to cut the wind, a cap to protect my head from sunburn and a scarf to protect my neck from the cold wind — all while others stop for a few minutes clad in shorts and T-shirts!

This get up, of course, makes me feel like Howard Hughes or someone equally eccentric. Having always BEEN eccentric, however, allows me to feel eccentric without embarrassment.

Nevertheless, you may find me at RiverWinds a bit less as the temperatures get lower, at least until I can find a better balance between my chilly anemia and my wardrobe.

In the meantime, just look for the guy who seems way overdressed.

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