At 5:00 AM my husband and I both woke up at the same time. I was cold, but thought it was because I hadn’t turned on my side of the heated mattress pad (yes I know I am spoiled…thanks Mom!) Then I realized my head was cold. Pat had already leaped out of bed, knowing before me what was wrong….we had NO HEAT! The temperature in the house was 56 degrees which is pretty cold for us. We usually keep it at 68 degrees. I know lots of people keep it at 62 degrees, but again, I’m spoiled and don’t like to be cold in my own home. So, Pat ran downstairs to see what was up and tried to get the furnace back in action. He also flipped the switch on the fireplace and got that going. With the fireplace going the rest of the morning, we were able to get the house to 64 degrees. The repairman came, and guess what, he flipped the switch on the furnace and it started right up. How frustrating! He said, there is nothing I can do when it is working, I need to see it not working, so off he went. He told me to call him if it happened again. So, off went the fireplace, and I got busy with getting ready to head into town to get groceries. I had check the temperature in the house and it was up to 68, so the furnace was working. Just as I was about to go out the door, the temp was back down to 65….not working again. So, I phoned the repairman again and of course, they were out on another call. So, I left the door unlocked and told them to let themselves in (thankfully in a small town, I can do that). By the time I got back home, I could tell they had been here working and left again. Within 5 minutes they were back and within another 5 minutes the furnace was fixed. Thankfully it was an easy fix and shouldn’t cost us a lot of money.
This lesson taught me a lot about our needs. We need warmth, but I noticed this morning, that I was comfortable in the 64 degree house. I didn’t need the house at 68 degrees to be comfortable. I’m not saying I won’t always want the house at 64 degrees, but how much money could we save by even turning the furnace down 2- 4 degrees? Plus, I also learned that our fireplace can heat the house if needed. We have lost power here before for a significant period of time and it is comforting to know that we have a fireplace to keep us warm even if we lose power (there is a way to start it without power, but don’t ask me how to do it…that is my hubby’s job). I am also so thankful that this didn’t happen during the raging blizzard just the day before. It wouldn’t have been as easy to get a repairman and the wind would have made it much harder to keep our home warm.
How many people in our community can’t afford to run their furnace whenever they want? How many children are cold at night when they go to bed? I was shocked that our children never woke up this morning complaining of being cold. I don’t even think they would have noticed if we hadn’t told them the furnace wasn’t working. Tonight, as I sit in my warm house, I am thinking of those who are cold in their own homes and cold outside because they don’t have a home. I am grateful for all we have been blessed with and pray for those who need to be blessed with warmth.
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