My cousin and her husband moved to the South when they got married. They had come from a wintery northern climate and they decided to start their new lives together in a place where they didn’t need to chop firewood or worry about a furnace. My cousin and her husband bought a house that had been built in the 1930s. It was quaint and charming…and it wasn’t equipped with central heating or air conditioning, though it did have a massive fireplace in the living room. Since my cousin and her husband had grown up in the north, they had no idea how important central air conditioning can be to someone in the South. They moved into their new house and enjoyed never needing to light their fire or think about furnaces all winter. When summertime rolled around, my cousin and her husband were a lot less happy with their new home. It was a hot, humid summer and they found it impossible to keep comfortable without an air conditioner. They tried installing ceiling fans, but the fans just blew around the warm, damp air. Coming inside from a sweltering summer day should be a relief, with cool, air conditioned air washing over you. But my poor cousin said she was only comfortable when she was in the nice cool air conditioned grocery store, standing in front of their freezers. My cousin and her husband didn’t wait until summer was over to call an HVAC company. They had an entire central heating and air conditioning system installed, right down to the ductwork. My cousin said it was expensive, but necessary, as she doesn’t think she would have lived through another month without an air conditioner.