Having a large and extended family sort of forced me out of my shell when I was just barely a teenager.
Our family is loud, gregarious and above all fun.
The gatherings of my youth were so lively that a person could not help but join in. Lord knows, I certainly tried not to be noticed. However, I’m thankful that all those folks made sure that I had some solid social skills. They sure didn’t want to see me drift deeper into my shy personality. That social aspect of my life has continued far into my adult years. If our family gatherings were too big for someone else’s place, I was able to offer my barn and property. I’m probably the only person I know who has an HVAC controlled barn. When I bought the property, I decided to make the barn a gathering place so I put in a commercial HVAC unit I had found barely used. This enabled my wife and I to host just about any sort of gathering. The number of people have not been a problem between our house and the barn. So, the more the merrier, seriously. However, I made a really stupid blunder during our last gathering. For some reason, I thought it would be wise to cover up the condenser cabinet for a minute for a photo. Well, I forgot about pulling off that tarp. It stayed on all night and suffocated the HVAC. I realized it the next morning when I went into the barn expecting to be met by cool temps. I can’t believe I was that stupid. My buddy, who is an HVAC contractor, did everything he could to suppress a grin when he came to assess the damage.