When I was a girl growing up in GA, we never had air conditioning. We kept our windows open about 3 or 4 inches, and had a big ol' attic fan that sucked the hot summer air through those little spaces. Made lots of noise too. It was right by my bedroom, so I guess that's why I love to have a fan on when I go to sleep. We didn't know that we were missing. We didn't have air in the car, in school, pretty much anywhere we went. As time went on, signs on stores used to shout, "COME IN! IT'S COOOOL INSIDE!". And they were cool, and it felt so good to walk in there on a hot day. I remember going to Sears and it would be so nice in there, and that little "bong bong" would be going off all the time on the overhead speakers. I guess it was some kind of paging system. (Gallagher, the comedian, said it was some kind of signal to women to shop. "Bong Bong, I'm shopping!" hilarious he is!) But the store I remember the most was McClellans. I would walk in and the fans overhead would stir the hot air around. My shoes would clip-clop on the unvarnished hardwood floors. Everywhere there were bins filled with things not needed but so beautiful to a child. Five and ten cents. And you could smell the lunch at the counter. It was a wonderful place! I'm surprised I don't love to shop. But maybe that's why I like Dollar General so much. It's kind of the same thing..only cooler!
Anyway, to get to the point, my air conditioner went out one week ago tomorrow. It took 5 days for it to be fixed and during that time, I kept wondering how in the hell we ever survived in the GA heat without it. Of course, when I moved to Indiana and got married, we lived in a trailer with no air conditioning, but I don't remember it being so bad there either. Maybe it's because I'm older? Now when I get hot, I turn into a sweat-dripping, red-faced grouch who looks like a stroke waiting to happen. I have to admit, I didn't do diddly-squat during those five days except what I absolutely HAD to do. I looked forward to going to work because it was cooler there. I didn't sleep much. Getting old sucks! But now the AC is fixed, and I am happy to sit here and listen to it wind my electric meter up to oblivion! I will never take it for granted again!
But sometimes, it would be nice to go back to the days where walking into McClellan's hot store on Marietta's square made me happy. And sometimes, you could just go in where it's cool.
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