Patience: (n) quiet, steady perseverance; even-tempered care

Living in a place like Texas will make you more patient. This time of year, the humid heat starts squeezing all the enjoyment of sitting on the patio, and I could tolerate that if the season didn't also bring with it insects. If you know me, you know I am a patient person. I have been molded as such by life, but I feel it's part of the fabric with which the good Lord stitched me together. However, after suffering from a rash of chigger bites this week, I'm about ready to board up my bedroom windows and stay in until the oppressive heat of this five month season passes. The severe itching and pain of the bites is only compounded by the extreme heat (at 9:20 a.m. it is 90 degrees).

J and I "enjoying" the sun.

My hubby and I are opposites in many ways related to this topic: he is a professed sun worshipper, I shy from too much sun. While the heat exhausts us both, he can last longer. We both love the pool, and while he can read for hours floating in the water, I can't last that long in the sun. Bugs here ignore him whereas I am eaten like cake. The bugs and heat tend to irritate me, thus I have a very weak chink in my patient armor. 

I suppose I always thought myself to be the patient partner in our house. Of the three of us, I figured I was number one, and our pup trades places for second with J depending on the day. But once summer comes barking, I've decided I'll give myself permission to place dead last.  Patience is no virtue. It's a hard-earned reward.