The Case of the Frozen Air Conditioner

I have never been a patient person.  I try really hard.  In fact, I even used to pray to God to make me a more patient person.  Until one day, I was inspired watching the movie Evan Almighty, in a scene where God explains that if you pray for patience, God doesn't give you patience, rather God gives you the opportunity to be patient.  I don't know how theologically sound that is since it comes from a movie, but nevertheless I liked it.  So I went about my life making sure that I didn't pray for patience, and that way I wouldn't have to encounter an opportunity to be patient.  However, that didn't work.  In the past several weeks God has handed me multiple opportunities to be patient, most of which I have failed miserably at.

But then two days ago, on Monday, the day of the NCAA championship, a day that we were having friends over to watch the game, also a day that was going to be ridiculously hot, 93 degrees to be exact (did I mention it's April?).  On Monday, the air conditioner stopped working.  The fan was running, and there was air coming out of the vents, but it wasn't cold, in fact, it was actually quite warm.  I started worrying and getting upset because I didn't want my house to be 8000 degrees when people were coming over.  I set up fans in the house, and did all that I could to get the house cool and nothing was working.  I turned down the air, I turned it off, I turned it back on to see if that would fix it... but nothing.

Finally I ventured outside only to find a frozen block of ice that used to be an air conditioner sitting in the back yard behind our house.  That's right... the air conditioner was frozen.  I have heard of this sort of thing happening to other people... but never to me.  93 degrees... and the air conditioner was frozen... apparently this happens when the freon leaks out.  I went online and did some research... finding out that repair costs for such a problem were outrageous... and I really didn't have the money to spare.  Finally I found a website saying that all you had to do was to turn the air off completely for 24 hours to give the AC unit a chance to rest, and for the ice to melt... and when you turn it back on, if it works, then the problem is fixed and you won't need a repair.

My patience was being tested... it was a very important night, and I wanted to watch my Blue Devils win the National Championship in the comfort of my air conditioned house.  But alas, I waited... I sat in a stifling house eating my chips and salsa... snacking on melting cookies, and drinking coke that was so warm it melted the ice as soon as you put it in the glass.

I had to wait for 24 whole hours.

So then comes day 2 of no air conditioning.  Fortunately we were going to Duke anyway to welcome home the Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor stadium.  That was an amazing experience in itself.  But I digress.  Yesterday it was 98 degrees outside... again have I mentioned that it is APRIL?  We got home to a house that was about 5 million degrees last night and it was too warm outside to open any windows to let air in.

Trembling, shaking... I walked to the thermostat and saw that the temperature was registering higher than the numbers actually go on the thermostat.  I flipped the switch and hoped that we would feel some cold air coming out of the vents.  "Click!"... a few second passed... and there it was COLD AIR... no 500 dollar repair bill... no cussing and yelling and making a big fuss... just a little bit of patience and the problem fixed itself... God must have been really laughing over this one... but that's okay... I now sit in a nicely air conditioned house... sipping on some delightful lemonade... and eating some yummy watermelon... Funny  how much more receptive I am of the hot weather when the air conditioning is actually working.