Literally — headaches!
The boys and I all had major headaches throughout and at the end of the day today.
The cause? Stress, sure, but something else, we decided.
During our harsh summers, we are all accustomed to having the comfort of a steady serving of home-brewed iced tea on the counter all day, every day, so we average at least 8 glasses a day apiece.
It seems that, since our thirsty summer routine is now broken up by school, we are either 1) dehydrated by comparison or 2) going through a kind of withdrawal in missing our constant caffeine fix! Yes, the headaches did all abate with the ingestion of a cold, sweaty glass of the stuff with crushed ice and, for one of us at least, lemon juice. The first clue was when I noticed us all throw down our bags, rub our eyes and necks, and head straight to the counter for a glass and the ol’ tea pitcher, which was waiting for us all like a good friend.
I know — bad mother! And I hadn’t even mentioned yet that our hard habit is not only with caffeinated tea but also with the sugar in it, though not a ridiculous amount, so it is the old-fashioned Southern Sweet Tea. I must openly admit that the sugar might have been missed, too. But these two key tea components — caffeine and sugar — are what makes harsh summers bearable.
We were bona fide Southerners with headaches and severe thirst today. But we will get back to lugging around our water bottles during the school day and return to saving sweet tea for the evening treat at dinnertime…and allllllll day on the weekends. <sigh>