Maggie was close to a mental breakdown.
If she ever doubted that there was such a thing as sensory overload, life with a two-year-old had made her a believer.
That day Jeremy, her two-year-old boy, was crankier than usual. The laptop, which had been at the mercy of Jeremy one too many times, was no longer reliable. It went off at will, and heaven forbid the power went out, she would lose all her data since it had turned into a desktop after years of serving her faithfully. She was sitting in the middle of the entryway, wondering how her life had come to this, when she observed Jeremy’s runny nose. After a while, she was also sneezing. That’s when she realized it was frosty. She inspected the temperature control, which confirmed the evident. She restarted the heater, however nothing happened, then panic set in because she could not imagine needing to purchase new HVAC equipment. She hastily added many layers of clothing on Jeremy and then called the heating and cooling provider. The number said it was out of service, and Maggie could not believe her luck. She double-inspected the heating contractor’s number and realized her error. Then she redialed it, and it went through. The HVAC worker assured her he would be at her loft within the hour. Fifty minutes later, the HVAC repairman worked in Maggie’s electric boiler. Maggie knew more about boilers and heating technology than the average homeowner, although she needed to be in the right mental space and therefore needed the heating contractor to do what it did best. She had even forgotten to replace the boiler filter and call for a boiler/heater tune-up which was absolutely why the central boiler had broken down. After some minutes of boiler repair, the heating and cooling system was as nice as new.