i'll set the scene. come with me, if you will...it's a hot weekend mid to late summer, because goodness knows i can't remember~ weren't they all hot?? early into a glorious Saturday evening. that time of day when the sun blazes hot into our back sun room. the supper dishes have been cleared, the juicy burgers have been grilled and enjoyed. the mess remains. the clean-up begins. i, the chef, am hot. maybe because i've been slicing, washing, setting, grilling. lovingly preparing a weekend meal for my crew and a guest. i have this warm feeling we moms sometimes get when a nice meal has been created and the time around the table has been refreshing and light and nourishing. i'm puttering in the kitchen, when i start to notice the temperature in my workspace feels warmer than it should. the a/c has been on all day and i find myself wondering why i still feel so uncomfortable....i wander over to the register and put my bare foot on top for a moment. the air is blowing out like usual, but oddly, it doesn't feel cold. it feels kind of neutral. strange...
time to summon my dear husband. "Jeff, i just put my foot on the register and it doesn't feel cold at all." he checks, he agrees. down to the basement he goes and i can only imagine the annoyance of being the one to be called on each time something breaks down. after an inside inspection, he went out the front door to check the actual a/c box at the side of our house. i knew whatever he saw couldn't have been good when he returned and called our youngest by name into the bedroom. see, my husband isn't a brand new parent. this isn't his first "unsolved mystery" involving our precious children. by now, he knows the most tried and true methods to get kids to speak, and most importantly~ to elicit the truth. AJ is the easiest to pull details from, especially when his brother isn't standing right there beside him. and this is the moment Jeff learned the details of the boy's activities prior to supper. but hey, a thousand words can't do justice to the picture Jeff had the presence of mind to snap when he first laid eyes on the "wood chopping" event Hudson and AJ had participated in a few hours prior....
you're dying to see what he saw, right??
isn't it lovely?? :)
by now, Hudson was brought into the line of questioning, and yes, these two darlings had in fact enjoyed a good time with some wood literally hitting the a/c fan as they decided to insert tiny sticks, and then progressively larger, and then progressively thicker sticks in through the slats of the metal grill to be chopped in fine little pieces by the blades of the spinning fan. how clever! how fun! how intensely irritating! contained within the unit were all the little tiny pieces, as well as the much larger one which had jammed the fan to a complete halt. that ended the "wood chopping" fun, and so they walked away. no need to mention this to anyone, of course...sigh....
Jeff cleaned out the wood chips, freed the lodged stick and tried to start up the a/c again. no deal. it was in shock, overheated, cooked. he explained to me, in a surprisingly patient tone (considering i was ready to blow) that the unit was really hot to touch and might have an automatic shut off mechanism and perhaps just needed to cool down for a bit.
being very afraid of the very real possibility that we'd be calling in a serviceman on a weekend (a ridiculously crazy hot weekend), to diagnose and install a brand new shiny unit for several thousand dollars, which is never money just laying around under our mattress or spilling from our drawers or wallets or anywhere, i tried to calm my anger at the sheer madness of the situation. i hated the thought of Jeff's hard earned wages going to this. i really felt sooooo frustrated. i looked at my beautiful boys, and the words of my amazing gym instructor came to mind before i uttered a word..."inhale to prepare"....after a deep inhale breath i very consciously and firmly spoke these words. "get your pj's on. it's time for bed. now." by now it was 7:45 pm. this was early for them considering it was a weekend. i didn't care. i knew it was smarter than having them up to see my fury. Hudson knew i meant business. AJ had one last request, "can't we have a snack??" ummm....a snack.....noooo....considering our blissful late supper remnants still remained in the uncleaned kitchen, and i knew they were not possibly hungry, i declined his request and suggested they move quickly. they tucked into bed early (which really was more of a "lay-in-your-briefs-on-top-of-the-bottom-sheet" than a tuck-in) in the very warm bedroom, Hudson on his top-bunk even....we told them to lay there hot and consider their actions carefully. we talked about thinking over their impulsive ideas before acting, and encouraged them to consider how this had impacted the rest of the sweaty family members. they were solemn. it was necessary and good.
i returned to the kitchen, and after another attempt or two, finally the a/c came back to it's glorious life after a half hour or so of cool down. i was overjoyed. Jeff was relieved. we were so thankful to be spared the hassle and expense that we could have faced, this time at least.....
we woke the next day and thankfully our bodies had cooled down and our hearts had warmed up to the two awesome boys whose lives had been spared :). we love them still. and it's a good thing they are cute, because with 100% certainty we know this won't be our last adventure with these characters. it's "a day at a time" around here, that's my working motto!
already this is a story we can laugh about, so that's good too i'd say!
