Chapter 2:
Feeling Hot Hot Hot!
Three weeks after the car accident, I thought I had things under control. My job allowed me to work from home, Uber, and public transportation became my go-to for quick errands. I was not opposed to using the bus and walking long distances, after all, growing up in Guatemala with no car had taught me a few things. Instacart became my go-to for groceries, and it felt good to support someone’s job this way. I was saving gas, insurance money, and time. No car, no problem. I got this!
Spring started to creep in, so it was starting to warm up. One of those warm weeks in February, I decided to turn on the AC (I usually turn it off in the winter, to save on my electric bill), and it was fine for about a week. Then it stopped working. Lucky for us (not for the plants), March and April saw some abnormally cold weather. Mom, the dogs, and I welcomed every single day of cold temperatures before the summer and learned that 85 was our max. The estimate to repair the leak in the coils was $3,000, and I was not going to spend that on an 8-year-old unit. A friend recommended a friend, and he “fixed” the leak for a fraction of the cost. Which was perfect because with May around the corner, we were not going to survive the summer without AC. The dogs were tired of afternoon cool-offs with the water hose. But the heat kept everyone chill in front of the fans, so it was sort of a win-win. I just like to see the positive in everything, ok.
The AC broke a few more times, and one of those times, it flooded water to the hallway and caused water damage to the laminate floors. Thankfully, a friend let us borrow her window unit, so they helped me install it in my mom’s room while I figure out a more permanent solution for the AC because we were not going to survive June through August in this heat. I had a total of 9 fans running throughout the house and an AC window unit.
Towards the end of May, the AC was “fixed” one last time and stayed on to keep us cool through the summer heat. It’s still kicking, so fingers crossed for next year.
