It has been really hot these last few days. It is only June for gosh sakes! I wonder what it is going to be like in July and August. We’ve been in the 90s. That is sweltering for the New England states!

My wife has been after me to finish putting in the air conditioners. I had installed the two smaller ones in the bedrooms about a month ago. I don’t have any problems lifting these.

But the big ones that go into the kitchen and office are massive. There was a time I could easily lift one of them but not anymore.

When I first met my wife just over 11 years ago I wanted to show off a little bit. Just like a guy I suppose. The first time was in the fall just after we met. She needed her air conditioner taken out of her bedroom window. Yeah, yeah, of course I can handle it.

I grabbed it and slowly opened the window. I hadn’t gotten too far when it slipped out of my hands. It fell backwards out of the window and crashed two stories down into the yard below. I whipped around and looked at my future wife. She said the shock on my face was priceless.

I ran down the stairs, out of the door, and around the house. There it was, crushed. Luckily no one had been there to get hurt. Across the street were several men building a brick wall. They had heard the crash. When I came out they started laughing and pointing at me. I just picked it up and moved it to the curb for trash. Then I sheepishly walked back into the house.

It didn’t seem to affect our blooming relationship but unfortunately her parents lived downstairs. After 10 years my father-in-law still hasn’t let me forget that day.

Late spring the following year I tried to be macho again. My future wife’s parents needed their air conditioner put in their living room window. Just like the last time I said of course I can do it.

I went into the basement to find it. I picked it up and carried it up their very narrow stairs. I had to twist some to make it work. I got it into the living room and placed it into the window.

This was fine and they were happy. But…the next day I couldn’t move! I had strained my back pretty badly. The next 12 weeks I worked with my wife’s chiropractor to get it back in shape.

Ever since that happened I have had to be careful lifting heavy objects. Luckily every spring and every fall there is someone available to help me out.

So to appease my wife I called a friend that lives on the other side of town. He is a big bear and very strong. Perhaps in a former life he was a weight lifter. He had removed the air conditioners last fall so I knew that it would take him only minutes to put them back in.

He told me he would be happy to do it but then, as is life, things kept getting in the way. He finally called me and asked if he could send his 15 year old son in to take care of them. He feels it is time that the boy gets a paying job. He thinks that this would be a good start for him; just to get used to working for money. In this case we would pay Donny five dollars which would actually come out of his father’s pocket.

This wasn’t a problem for me. As long as the boy could handle them he was welcome to install my air conditioners.

When I mentioned it to my wife she liked the idea but she commented that it might be tough for him to actually get a job because he has several disorders just like our son Max. His main one is reactive attachment disorder (RAD).  Children like this tend to react socially in inappropriate ways.

Because of this it can be difficult to hold on to a job for any length of time.

Even though Max doesn’t have this disorder we worry that because of his bipolar and asperger’s he might have problems too. But as for Donny, it’ll be great to have him move our air conditioners.

He arrived on Thursday afternoon; sweat was pouring off of him because it was so hot. I showed him what needed to be done then brought him into the basement. The first step was to tip them over. When we had that flood down there in the spring they ended up sitting in water. Luckily we found that both had drained and were completely dry.

The kid is like his dad. He lifted each of them like they were fluffy pillows. And then one at a time he carried them up and installed the first in the office and the second in the kitchen. Like his Dad, it only took a few minutes.

Before Donny left I thanked him profusely. After he was gone I called his Dad to let him know what a great job he had done. My friend was ecstatic and thanked me for allowing his son to do the job. Um, okay, not a problem.

My wife had been worried that they would smell terribly musty since they were in all of that water. Since I was home alone at the time I cleaned them and then turned them on full. Yes, they smelled badly alright! I opened all the doors and windows so hopefully the bad air would end up outside. I also sprayed the backs of them with deodorizer.

After about an hour neither one smelled musty anymore. Once my family got home there wasn’t a smell in the house and it was nice and cool.

So finally we had our little oasis in the middle of the hot weather.

But do you know what? It was too cool on Friday to even bother with any air conditioners. Better to enjoy the nice breezes anyway.

Be Sociable, Share!

•