Baby It's Cold INSIDE

I have just uncovered another tricky area in the first year of retirement.  The problem is temperature.  You see, MiVida is a Polar Bear.  He loves all things cold and wears shorts year round.  He likes to get up in the morning and blow smoke rings with the cold air in winter.  I am NOT a polar bear, and I'm always cold.  It wasn’t really a problem for me when I was working.  I would shower and dress quickly and rush to my warm office and classroom as soon as possible.  I often worked late so when I dragged myself home, my husband was open to heating the house so I would be less grumpy.  I’m really not fun to be around when I’m grumpy and being cold makes me very very grumpy.

Now that I’m retired, we almost had a “melt down”- pun intended – trying to figure out the heating issues.    The conversation went something like this:

Me:         “I’m a little cold.  Let’s turn on the heater."

MiVida:   “I’m not cold."

Me:         “What part of “I” don’t you understand?"  

MiVida:  "Well, when the heater is on, my nose gets stuffed up because there is no humidity 

                 in the house.”

Me:          “Well, when my feet are frozen, my brain doesn’t work very well, and I need it to 

                  work when I’m in my office”

MiVida  “It’s not cold.”

Me:  No comment....(There are no words for what I was thinking or at least for this blog since it is G rated most of the time.)

Then MiVida realized that we were having a particularly bad moment, and he went and researched small stand-alone heaters and found one that was economical and safe.  Now it is installed in my office, and I’m happily working away and enjoying warmth.  When he wants me to leave the office, he agrees to heat other rooms.  He really isn’t a tyrant, and he is the most generous man I know.  He is just a Polar Bear, and he has a real fear of melting. 

Retirement Rule # 4:   Be sure you work out environmental issues when you share space with a loved one on a more permanent basis.