I can't breathe!

These three words, spat out breathlessly by Donkey at the end of Shrek 1- actually hold true for me not just sometimes but often.

For I can't breathe in a room with closed windows.

Let me explain- I need to have some fresh air in the room. If not, then well.. let's just say I can't breathe.

Now imagine my plight when I spent close to 3 years in a glass boxed cabin with a lone artificial tree for company. You can be sure I pulled my window blinds way, way up so could see the wind/ breeze, if not feel it and kept my room AC on high all times. I also sat glued to my laptop so that I wouldn't notice the walls starting to close in and kept my eyes firmly on the glass door and waved a cheery hi to anyone passing by (it really did help that my cabin was right in the centre, flanked by the IT head and the MD's cabin)

But we recently took Raania on her first holiday and though the suite/ villa was very luxurious with it's own swimming pool to boot, at night we had to sleep with the windows shut, blinds drawn because of the heat- and I tricked myself into believing I was asleep in my own bed with a sliver of fresh air brushing against my face.  However, with Raania one can't sleep uninterrupted and as soon as I got up in the middle of the night - I felt that familiar 'can't breathe' feeling. I realised that hubby dear had switched off the AC, thinking it was too cold for the baby. With floods of relief washing over me I notched up the dial to the highest permissible temperature and once I felt the cool blast on myself, drifted off to sleep.

Was I glad when we returned home to my own room with the French windows and basic curtains instead of blinds where I could leave a slight bit open for some raindrops and cool breeze to populate my room and my soul!