heat, central air and false hope

Every couple of weeks, when it gets hot and muggy in West Michigan, I tell myself that turning our central air on is a good thing. I close all of the windows, shut the door to the basement, and flick on that beautiful air. Two hours later, I am still hot. I can hear the air running, I see the fan moving, but I don't feel that cool breeze that I have been anticipating. Our house was built in the 1950's and the air unit was installed later (obviously). It hasn't worked the five years we have lived here but every summer I still try. I am not sure why I think it will work, I just do.

Days like today (in the 80's with super humidity) make me wonder how the woman of the house managed fifty years ago. We have fans. Now, my 32week pregnant body is sitting in front of a fan with ice cold water and a reoccurring thought: "maybe I should try the air conditioning."