Week 31.

We arrived home from our vacation to find one of our air conditioners making a loud noise and the other completely iced over and blowing warm air. It doesn't take long to appreciate the blessing of air conditioning when it's 108* outside and just slightly cooler than that inside. The repairman came out and looked at the units and after making a few adjustments to the filter he declared them fixed and said, "These are getting pretty old. They're twenty or twenty-one years old, but they seem to be doing fine."

I said, "How long do air conditioners usually last?"

He said, "Oh, ten or twelve years."

I could have wrapped my arms around this beautiful old machine and kissed it. I am so grateful this week for my air conditioner and for its miraculous, extended lifespan and for the gloriously cool air it blows out around the clock. It is among the handful of blessings making my return back here to the desert bearable.