Come winter, will I long for these hot summer days?
- Laura Moore: Housebroken
- July 14, 2018
- 1041
I can remember the days before air-conditioning. The grown-ups got the fan, and we kids just floated around in our beds on a sea of sweat.
Miserable.
Summer nights were best spent in a mountain or beach cottage with lovely cool breezes wafting through the open windows. But that usually happened only one or two weeks each summer, so the rest of the time we sweltered.
The only places lucky enough to enjoy cool air in the summer were drug stores and movie theaters. Then came the invention of window air-conditioning units, and houses welcomed those with open windows. Not long afterward came the installation in the most fortunate of houses of central air-conditioning.
When my Taller Half and I were first married, we saved up to buy a window air-conditioner. When we could afford it, Taller Half raced out and bought the most powerful window unit he could find and had it installed the same day.
It was very hot that night, so he turned that air-conditioning unit all the way down. We awoke the next morning with icicles hanging off the sink spigots. It was so cold inside that we had to open doors and windows to thaw out the house. It was wonderful.
In our modern age, few houses live without air-conditioning, and those who don’t have it make sure their occupants sweat buckets. Our new place is delightfully air-conditioned, and we are very comfortable living here.
In fact it’s so cool and comfortable that our smallest dog, who prefers warm temps, has taken to jumping into bed with us at night and burrowing under the covers. When she feels we have had enough sleep, she wakes us up by licking our faces. Not our favorite way to start the day.
I try to comfort myself by thinking that come winter I will long for these hot days. Actually I won’t; I will long for warm days with a nice, cool breeze. How our ancestors survived in long skirts worn in unair-conditioned houses amazes me.
Obviously they did, or I wouldn’t be here complaining about the heat. But when winter does arrive, we will all be moaning and groaning about how cold it is. Humans, like houses, are very difficult to please.