May 12 | Allergies

Last night got down to 47° and we had the air conditioner running in our bedroom. I find this hard to deal with as I grew up with a father that was so cheap (we also may have been a bit poor) that in the winter, we all had handmade afghans and down vests which we wore instead of turning the heat up. But, I love my wife and she's been suffering terribly from spring allergies. I fought the impulsion to turn it off and let it run.

Oddly enough I was talking to my mother tonight and she explained that my father refuses to open the windows because he's afraid of the pollution of the outside air. I realize this makes my father sound like a nut (which he is just a bit), but the reality, at least in his mind, is that he has severe allergies to all kinds of toxins, and he believes that the air is causing him to suffer. Therefore, they have air purifiers throughout the house and run the air conditioner on the fan setting even when it's 45° outside.

What can I say, this is the family I was born in to.

My mother and I were talking about the definition of normal. Is there really such a thing? I grew up with parents that moved from state to state like some people change socks. We ate strange (presumably healthy) foods. We ingested handfuls of vitamins. Saw wacky doctors and weren't allowed to listen to the radio or watch TV (at least for part of my childhood).

And yet, we were well loved. At least I believe so. I have a few siblings who might dispute HOW we were loved, but no one disputes our parent's intent.

We grew up with a mother that worked from home and was always there for us. My father didn't travel and was always home at night for dinner. We ate together. Went to church as a family every Sunday. We had friends over, and stayed over at friend's houses. In the summer, we left the house in the morning and played all day, coming home for dinner when my mother rang the bell. We did arts and crafts. I mowed the lawn.

I know a lot of people who experienced terrible, unforgivable childhoods, and ours wasn't one of them.

So, that's a lot to attribute to air conditioning, I guess. Actually, as a child, we didn't have air conditioning. We had fans like most everyone else I knew.