It was the summer of 1997, and I had hurt my knee pretty badly sliding into third base during a game of baseball.
I had a love-hate relationship with summer time, because even though I enjoyed playing with my friends at the rec center, they only had fans to keep us cool, rather than air conditioners.
The year that I skinned my knee seemed to be the hottest of my life!! My little brother would always complain that by the time lunch arrived, our drinks that we brought with us were warm. I used my injured knee as an excuse to stay home for a couple days. In reality, I wanted to enjoy the brand new air conditioner that had been installed in our house. Those two days, I stayed so close to the air vents, and I loved it! I felt the cool air washing over my face and it was heavenly. I’m not sure who invented the air conditioner, but I really wish that I could meet the person, because I would thank them profusely for their contribution to society. I’m not sure us 90’s kids would have made it to adulthood without air conditioning. The air conditioner My dad bought had all sorts of neat settings on it, and it was energy efficient. I tried to make more excuses for staying home to enjoy air conditioning, but Dad told me that getting out and moving around would help my knee injury more.