Too Hot In Here

The fish in my aquarium--tropical fish from the Amazon and rainforests of Asia--are dying! It's too hot in New York right now. The heat wave has killed people I'm sure...but I have never seen tropical freshwater fish die from overheating in room temperature, and I have been taking care of fish for 20 years.

Today I lost 3 Harlequin Rasboras and 3 Cardinal Tetras. The last heatwave that came through about a month ago killed a rare plecostomus, for which I forgot the name and have not seen another.

Melting, I entered the elevator before I found the death pool waiting for me in my 99 degree apartment. A woman came in gasping for air.
"It's so bad," she said referring to the extreme heat oppressing us, still even at 11pm. "I had to call the ambulance yesterday."
"Oh no, what for?"
"I have asthma...and I can't breath in this. Listen to me...even now..." she couldn't complete her sentence without breaking for air. "I gotta get back to the air conditioner."
The doors opened and she quickly rushed to her apartment for relief. My "I hope you feel better" was met by the backs of her heels and a swinging elevator door.
I enter my apartment. It is an ungodly thing to open the door to your home and feel as if you are literally stepping into a sauna. As the thick, humid air wrapped around my sweaty body I am wondering wtf is up with New York? How can people live like this? This is not normal. Even my fish from tropical rainforests and the Amazon are dying.

Shake Her and She'll Only Get Stronger

There's this succulent plant that made it's way home with me from a local farmers market about a year ago. It has pudgy, bulbous little leaves that are attached to a slender, string like stem that curves and twists wildly in every direction.

"Strange looking little guy," I thought as I carried it home. It was so delicate that it's bulgy little leaves fell off at the slightest touch.

It made it to my apartment half naked from the trip. I moved it to a window seal with a lot of light, but every time hands brushed against it more leaves fell off. A strong wind would blow through the open window and even more leaves fell from the stems. By now, the everyday challenges of life had left the plant looking starved, dilapidated, and half-dead.

"Stupid plant! Why are you so delicate?!" I complained out loud at the very sight of it.
Then one day, as I was watering my contained botanical collections, I noticed something in the soil under the naked stems of my struggling succulent. Every bulby leaf that had fallen off and landed in the dirt had begun to grow roots, each forming a brand new plant.

All of a sudden, I realized how little I actually knew about the plant. The very flaws I attributed to the strange little creature turned out indeed to be it's strengths. How amazing and talented the plant had become, and the only thing that had changed was me.
How amazing nature is...to make a living creature that grows, even multiples every time it is shaken. If only I could be so strong!