Hot blooded

Sometimes, I like to plan ahead. So even if it’s cool enough to wear a jacket when I leave the house and I know the temperature will warm up later, I will leave the house without a jacket. I just don’t want to carry the jacket when I stop wearing it once the temperature warms up. I consider myself practical in that sense.

Well, over the years, people have directed comments at me like, “You Latinos don’t have to wear a jacket when it’s cold because you’re hot blooded.” On the other hand, if I wear a jacket when it’s cool out, I hear, “You Latinos can’t take the cold.” In the winter when the temperatures are sub-freezing in Chicago, I don’t bundle up as much as everyone else. I can take the cold because I have acclimated myself to the weather having lived in Chicago my entire life. So, everyone around me will be bundled up and afraid to go out into the cold, but I’m already heading out the door before I zip up my winter coat.

I guess it’s because I’m a hot-blooded Latino.