I’m not the sort of person who likes to feel bad for myself, but it is clear that there are some areas of my life where I was cheated.
The older I get, the more obvious it is that growing up without a dad is actually a massive handicap.
It turns out, when you don’t have anybody in the household to teach you about mechanical workings, car maintenance, and general household responsibilities, it will come up to bite you in the butt later. For instance, I’ve never been able to perform my own oil changes on my cars and had spent a lot of extra money going to mechanic shops. I’ve never understood how you correctly measure, cut, and construct something with power tools, so I’ve always been at the mercy of cheap Ikea furniture. Worst of all, I definitely never knew anything about indoor air quality control or equipment maintenance, so I’ve spent an arm and a leg over the years paying for routine HVAC maintenance appointments and emergency repair services. I haven’t been thrilled with the impact on my bank account caused by poor HVAC health. I actually have never known anything about my indoor air quality control equipment… Until I happened to come across an ancient book sitting in my attic. The book is a massive guide to central heating and cooling systems, as described in the 1980s. It’s a huge manual on proper HVAC maintenance services and routine equipment issues. I found myself scouring this book night after night, and I have to say that although I’ve still never played a good old game of catch in the front yard, this HVAC education filled some small void created by my missing father.