There is literally nothing more important for me in getting a good night’s rest than a great air conditioner. I simply cannot sleep in the heat. I’ve also gotten so used to the sound of a fan motor running that it’s the one sure thing that will lull me into unconsciousness. Some people seem to be able to sleep in any environment and under any circumstances, with or without climate control. I guess I envy those people, but that’s not me at all. As an example, the one-two punch of a hurricane knocking out power and it being the dead of summer when it happens ensures that I simply will not sleep during a hurricane, so long as the power remains out.The last time this happened to my family, I was utterly miserable. Not being able to get a proper shower made it even worse. I would lay there at night, sweating in dead silence, save for the wind and rain blowing outside. With no precious air conditioning or fans to cool me down and drown out the silence, all I could do is stare up at the ceiling and languish in misery. At that point, a small fan blowing in my face would be better than nothing, but of course we had no power to make that happen. I distinctly remember around dawn of the fourth day of not having any power, suddenly, the lights came on overhead and the A/C kicked in and my big old box fan was suddenly blowing into my face once again. I cannot describe to you how happy and relieved I felt, and I ended up sleeping for most of the rest of that day. After getting up for a shower of course.