Hot Summer

A few weeks ago my guy came home from work to a very warm house. I had been home most all day, and had noticed it was heating up but didn’t think much of it until he told me it was 79 degrees inside. Our air conditioner had obviously decided to take an unscheduled break. It took about 20 days (yes 20) to get it back to fully functioning. During that time, many men tromped through our home and yard, trying to figure out why it had died in the first place and what to do about it. Apparently, we have a very stubborn air conditioner.

There was a dance that went on for three weeks, of me being available for a four hour time period, only to have the repairman come at least a half hour after the time allotted, if at all. Then two-three hours of being present while ‘repairs’ were made, only to have a still non-working unit after being in the hot house for many unnecessary hours. Over and over again. And countless hours on the phone with the home warranty company. Just painful.

During this time, I wondered what we would have done if there was a baby in the house, or an elderly person. We cannot go to a hotel because we have a couple of large, anxious rescue dogs who don’t cope with change well. I knew intellectually that this would be over soon, for me the heat wasn’t as bad as the lack of communication and poor execution. My goal in life became very basic: get through the day without losing it. Well-intentioned friends would check on me, asking how we were coping and when would this be resolved, and it honestly took everything I had to hold it together. I could hardly talk about it because it wasn’t reasonable to have to wait so long. I just wanted the season to be over.

I knew there was a lesson in the hot, I wasn’t sure what it was at the time, but I think it’s starting to make sense now. There will be seasons of heat in life. We rarely know how long the seasons will last, but we are responsible for how we act as we are in them. And those around us have their own seasons of heat, and we should be well-meaning, asking if we can help, but sometimes people need to just sit in it and wait it out. There wasn’t a quick fix in our situation, no fan or wall unit would suffice in the heat and we couldn’t leave. But we could learn to endure, and be so grateful when the season was finally over.