Have You Hugged Your Air Conditioner Today?

Chuck just left, the guy who provides the annual check-up services on our heating and cooling systems. Today it was for the central air conditioning unit.

In mid-summer 2002, we purchased and moved into a two-story farmhouse (built in 1938) in central Virginia, which only had two window units to cool nearly 1800 square feet of living space. That August and September gave us just enough summer to make us realize something had to change. We were glad to invest in the installation of a central AC system before the summer of 2003 came long.

Like most homeowners, most of what we know about the workings of a house are born out of necessity. We knew that our AC unit required Freon to do the work of cooling our house. But Chuck informed us a few years ago that if ever our unit needed to have Freon added, we would have to buy a whole new unit, because of the phase-out of the use of Freon. Ever since we received this news, we’ve been more and more grateful for every year it continues to successfully cool our dwelling space. And we tend to hover over Chuck as he assesses the annual situation.

Described in the Popol Vuh, the Quiché Mayan book of creation, are multiple attempts by the creators to create humans who are sufficient in capacity and awareness, enough to satisfy the creators. One of those attempts resulted in the humans failing to remember and remain grateful for where they came from and what was provided to them. This led to their downfall and destruction, brought upon them not only by the creators, but also by the humans’ animals, their grinding stones and pots and pans, and the trees and rocks and caves surrounding their homes. “We have provided you with all you need, and yet you ignore us and cause us pain!” their collective cries conveyed. “Now, we return the pain to you.” Because these people had no compassion or thought for all that gave them a comfortable life, they were destroyed.

“So, what’s the story on the AC this year?” I asked Chuck. “Is she running low on Freon? Are we nearing the end?”

“Nope,” he replied. “She’s hummin’ along at full strength, doin’ just fine. In fact, she’s runnin’ better than an AC unit her age should be runnin’!”

With that news, I went right to over to her and patted and hugged her and said, “Thank you!”

Come September, Chuck will be back to look at our furnace, which is older than our AC unit. Let the hug-fest continue.