I Love These Babies…
May 20, 2008 by Barbara
In 1985…we bought our first home….
a split-level in the town we grew up in….right down the road from where my husband had lived in his grade school years…
We bought it from the original owners…therefor requiring a few adjustments here and there to bring it up to date from the 1950’s interior to a 1980’s…. young family with toddler …kid-proof…neutral colored… state….
One item of concern…the furnace…
a big …old …original workhorse that covered quite a large footprint in the lower basement…
Being “green” as a first time homeowner…I ventured into the world of heating and air conditioning companies…
Oh ….. were they swift….with a young mother…looking absolutely clueless…with talk of coils… emissions…and gas leaks…lurking to wipe out our whole family in our sleep!
The new improved models…have more bells and whistles….clearly improved components…..information that causes a consumer’s eyes to glaze over…while politely nodding their head…so as not to appear totally devoid in comprehending any part of the litany being so masterfully sold by the technician… with the name sewn on his shirt…
Doing what any self respecting …independent woman does after hearing such news…from not one …but three servicemen..sent out by… “yellow pages” half- page ad companies….for comparison ….and consensus…
Panic!….
and call Mom…..
Who offers…calm reassurance…..along with long time ownership savvy…and the coveted name and number of her “guy”….who has been her “guy” for heating and air conditioning forever…or as long as she can remember…
Her “guy” comes….
Her “guy” walks down into the belly of the beast…the potential “gas chamber”…to come head to head with the potential executioner of my family….as warned by all the experts…who came before her “guy”….
No fear….no concern….no dollar signs…showing in his eyes…
quite the opposite…. quite startling…in fact…
“I love theses babies”…he exclaims….”They don’t make ’em like this anymore”….excited at the prospect of the chance to inspect it……
I felt like I could breathe again….envision my daughter’s wedding once more….like I now had a vintage Ferrari…and not an Edsel…. kind of smug and proud….
What about the death threat…the gas leak…the potential for harm when we least expect it?…I inquired…
The “guy” being a real “guy” shrugged his shoulders and said….
“you breathing now?”…..”Looks solid”….”Made better than anything out there today”….
and….
“You have electric heat…… not gas!”…..
To which I exclaimed….”I love these babies!”….
Why has this 20+ year old memory come back to me now?……
Items in the news…. as of late….
New medicines….found to have all sorts of problems…when the old tried and true….still do the trick…
New light bulbs…found to have mercury…the ramifications if they break or are disposed of improperly …..where the old…while they use more energy… offer less landfill backlash….
New water bottles….with plastic risks…making tap water acceptable once more….
New cars with endless recalls…… with announcements made weekly…so it seems…
New clothing with sizing that is suspect…… size 0…enough said….
New… improved boxes and bottles at the grocery store… …that lighten the amounts inside…slight enough to fool the consumer…and add to profits…
New computers….that now require three “clicks”….instead of one…. to get the same result…
New is definitely …no longer better or improved….
Something I learned way back in the 80’s…..
