🥵
(adorable 📸 from 2015)

We got our air conditioner replaced.
It conked out during a week of 100 degree days.
New unit was installed.
Three weeks later, it wasn’t working.
The coil had iced up.
Still having some 100 degree weather.
Day One of the AC struggle was hot. And sweaty. And it was really uncomfortable to try and sleep.

Elden, our awesome hearing/AC guy started working on it.
Change this thing.
No luck.
Fix that part.
No luck.
Do this procedure.
Almost.
We thought he had it.
Then it iced up again.
Order that part.
Wait for it to arrive.

It was a very warm two weeks.

But along this two-week journey, we learned some things.
We learned that it’s the coil, not the unit.
We learned that making the coil “less sticky” sort of worked because it took twice as long to ice up. That was helpful.
We learned I could run it for a few hours then turn it off, then run it again and it would not ice up.
We learned that the furnace fan wasn’t always kicking on.
I learned how to start that furnace fan by pressing/kicking my foot against the metal sheet that protects the relay.
I learned where to place my tiny cold-air fan by the side of my bed to feel lovely coolness at night.
I learned to just live with the lights off and shutters closed to keep things cool.

Not having a working AC is not my favorite during the middle of July.
But we learned things.
It got better.
I have some skills now that I didn’t have before.
It wasn’t as bad on Day Fourteen as it was on Day One.

It seems like that’s how it is when anything happens that we’re not prepared for or don’t anticipate.
Challenges we have to face or struggles we take on.

It’s hard.
We don’t like it.
It feels terrible.
And then we chip away at it.
We learn something that helps.
We get more information.
We try that strategy.
We see what works.

And the challenge might never go away.
But we get better at living in it.
Or we don’t.
We might choose to stay in Day One mode forever. Or we might move to Day Fourteen mode.
That is totally our choice.

My AC eventually got fixed.
But if it didn’t, I know some things now.
We would be able to live without it.

I’m just really glad I don’t have to!🙏🏻💙