The Blessing of Window Screens

Over the past couple weeks, a beautiful event has occurred a few times: when the temperature has dipped below 80 degrees, I have been able to enjoy the fresh, cool air and breezes while inside. Our house seems fresher, and I've experienced much joy as I open all the windows each morning to let in the cool air. This may seem like a little, insignificant thing, but to me, getting to open our windows has been a huge blessing of home ownership. 


In our first apartment, we had no air conditioning and out of necessity opened the windows...only to smell the cigarette smoke from all the neighbors, in which case we determined that it was nicer to stifle inside. In our second apartment, only the bedroom windows had screens, and those windows did not stay open easily. There were a few times when I'd get desperate to air out our home and fling open the patio door, which then resulted in many different bugs coming on in. Once, a huge bumblebee even came in, and I had to encourage it to go outside by tossing a flower-patterned pillow on our porch (someone did tell me that stores sell big magnetic screens for patios, but we never got around to buying one). 

But here, in our new house, we have windows that open with screens. We have a patio door with a screen. While a few bugs here and there seem to find their way in, for the most part, we can enjoy the cool morning breezes wafting through our house without being afraid that a bumblebee will wind up in the living room. This, my friends, is amazing. Window screens are a huge gift, and I am so grateful that our home has them! 

I've read that temperatures are expected to jump up into the 90s tomorrow. However, I know that someday, the temperature will drop and once again, I'll be able to open the windows and look out-through the window screens-on this beautiful world.