Hurrah for air conditioning

I grew up in Florida in a house with no air conditioning and no ceiling fans.  I remember stretching out on my bed and praying for enough of a cool breeze that the sweat would stop pooling on my stomach.  At the same time, I disdained those who required AC, thought them wimps.

Today, I am one of those wimps.  I love air conditioning.  I consider it vital to survival in the south--and anywhere else it gets hot.  So when the heat pump that serves my bedroom stopped putting out cool air, I had several bad nights of sleep until a repairman could come today.  I'm now happy to report that the problem was a dead capacitor--not a cheap thing to replace, but nothing like having to buy a new heat pump, either.

The incident reminded me of how easy it is to become accustomed to luxury, how quickly what we perceive as problems reflect what we come to expect.  Part of me would like to report that as a result of this reminder I am sleeping with the window open and returning to the toughness of my youth, but I'd be lying.

Instead, I've cranked the temperature down and will be enjoying a lovely sleep in a cool, dark room, happy to have my air conditioning and certain that the younger me would have appreciated it, too.