The pressure to date was all around me, but the worst of it came from my mother.
At thirty-two, Nancy did not understand how I was still single. She introduced me to people she thought would pick my interest, and I kid you not when I say she even gave out my number to prospective sons-in-law. There was a time she came home claiming that she needed a two-week getaway. I called the HVAC business for an air conditioning tune-up. I also needed the cooling specialist to clean every HVAC duct in my home because my mother suffers from allergies and for duct sealing if there was any leak. I had to make sure that the indoor air quality was at its best during her stay. I also knew that she would complain about my settings on the temperature control system, so I gave her free reign of my thermostat during her visit; after all, she would be in the house more hours than I. The cooling expert came during her second day in the afternoon. I had scheduled it when I knew that I would be home before the tech left. I came home in time to find him still working. He must have been a new contractor because I had met all the service provider workers and had not seen him before. He went through the mini split air conditioner with a fine-toothed comb. He also commented on a job well done to upgrade the heat pump to a zone control system. By the time he finished, the unit was running like a new air conditioning system. My mother, not one to let an opportunity pass, invited him for tea and insisted because she knew our house was probably his last call for the day.