michael and i had really similar up-bringings in so, so many ways. same city, same school system (not counting michael’s three year stint in private greek orthodox school… and yes he is jewish). we were both one of three and both out numbered by the opposite gender (michael the only boy with two sisters; me the only girl with two brothers). michael’s dad and my mom both attended our high school (the school where we met) and were even there at the same time and later went to the same college. we had overlapping friends growing up, we trick or treated on the same streets. lots of similarities.
but there are also differences.
the five main differences between our childhood households were:
1. the amount of television watched (and the amount of tv sets had).
2. the amount of hours spent at church and/or synagogue.
3. the amount of eating at restaurants and the amount of soda consumed.
4. the amount of lizards welcome in the home.
5. the thermostat.
today we will be addressing item #5, the thermostat.
people think we never argue. but we do. in fact, quite often. and it is always, always, always about the thermostat. except when it is not, but that just means the thermostat argument will happen later or has already occurred.
you see, michael grew up in sub arctic temperatures.
except, he will say he did not but that rather i grew up in a place he likens to being just slightly more bearable than hell (temperature wise, that is). i get where he is coming from. my mom never had a/c that really worked until just this year, and when the new unit was installed i happened to be home on a visit and was there for the inaugural use… which lasted about 15 minutes before both my mom and i were freezing and then we turned it off.
a scene never to be seen at michael’s house. they keep their air on allllllll the time. even when they sleep and even when they leave. if you are the last to leave my mom’s house and you don’t turn off the lights and air conditioning before you exit you are not going to be smiled upon on your return.
so what happens when i do this now? when i turn the air off before leaving the house and leave our two dogs in an un-airconditioned apartment in the westside of los angeles (land of NON-EXISTANT air conditioning… it is a marvel to many i know that we even have central air, it’s not common here) michael accuses me of trying to kill them. i try to remind him that the high was 72 degrees that day, but it doesn’t matter. i am a puppy killer for sure.
so i will spend whole days at home alone with the dogs without the air on, but if i i leave the house and do not turn it on for them before leaving, i’m going to hear about it. not that he yells at me. but he just informs me they probably almost died. What??
oy vey.
i’ve found my perfect thermostat setting to be 80 degrees. michael prefers it about 10 degrees colder (again, in his house that is acceptable, in my house i have never, ever seen the thermostat needle set below 72. ever. we were told that no a/c unit could actually be set so low. that if you dared try the entire system would die forever. i really believed this to be true. turns out it’s not… although it probably was true to our specific unit we had all those years. it couldn’t have handled it.)
so what to do….
i dunno yet. i’m really waiting for dual control home a/c. you know, like in cars.
but today my reality is, that as i write this the current temperature outside (as i just looked it up this very moment) is 57 degrees, and yet, our a/c is running.
and i have goosebumps.
