In many ways, being at the corporate offices and inside the zone-controlled HVAC there felt like the finish line.
Before moving to the location with nearly ideal commercial HVAC, I spent nearly 15 years working for the same company.
Therefore, leaving it was the last thing I wanted to do. I was actually prepared to establish roots because I had moved so much during the entire time I had worked for the company. And it was kind of assumed that I’d be able to buy a house at some point and be done moving. That was my strategy when I bought my house and replaced the HVAC system along with other renovations. I met the woman who would become my wife because she was a local before the house was even finished. Everything appeared to be going according to plan. I would have a lovely home with air conditioning and heating that was nearly as good as money could buy. Living in all those apartments and condos while traveling for the company sure beats that. But after the pandemic, everything was different. Over the first 18 months of the pandemic, the company undoubtedly took a beating. Most of that time was spent working from home with our own air conditioning. I was immediately summoned before the senior managers once we were back in the office. To save a failing regional office, they wanted me to relocate north. More of a demand than a request, it was. But man, I really had a hard time convincing my wife that her future would involve a gas furnace.