I was only eighteen and I was getting ready to move a thousand miles away from my family.
I wasn’t sure I was ready to make a move like this, especially since I was on my own.
I wasn’t going to have family nearby and I didn’t know anyone. Dad and mom were going to drive me down to the school to make sure I got settled in, but that was as far as it went. They returned home the next day, and I stayed. Mom and dad left and I found out I had a roommate. I had never shared a room with anyone. I was an only child and even when I had a friend over, they slept in the spare room. I had specific likings for my HVAC. I wanted it colder at night than most people. If the temperature got above sixty in the bedroom, I couldn’t sleep. We had zone control in our house and I had my own thermostat. I saved mom and dad on their energy bills in the winter, but I ran it up in the summer. I didn’t have a thermostat in the dorm. I was at the mercy of the house parent, to give me HVAC. I tried to talk them into making it colder in the dorm room, but they said they set the thermostat where the university told them to set it. My roommate thought the same way I did. She wanted it colder, but she didn’t go to the house parent. She went directly to town. She brought back a portable air conditioner and put it on the desk. That was a great idea, as long as we didn’t get caught.