I honestly don’t know what has happened in the last few years, but it turns out that my mom has really chilled out.
Growing up, she was a bit… Difficult. She’s always been extremely anxious and neurotic. As such there have been many challenges with us on a personal level. Her energy was always difficult for me to be around and her controlling nature made it really hard for anyone to grow up in the same house as her. I have to say, now that I’m a grown adult and she’s entering old age, my mom is suddenly super cool. Maybe too cool. You see, when I was a kid I remember that she absolutely hated using the central heating and cooling system. She was so uptight about spending money that she refused to operate the forced air furnace or air conditioning unit unless it was absolutely necessary. This meant, unless the house was literally freezing or boiling hot, we weren’t going to touch the thermostat. Recently, I’ve been visiting her and everything has changed. If I mention that I’m uncomfortable, she actually offers to adjust the central heating and cooling system settings right away. These days, she really loves her central cooling system to the extent that I am uncomfortably cold. After so many Summers of burning up, unable to sleep in my sweaty sheets because she wouldn’t use the AC unit… Now she blasts the house with ice cold air until I put on several layers of sweatshirts and blankets. I don’t know what happened with her HVAC preferences, but Mom seriously has gotten way too chill for my comfort.