We grew up in the countryside and barely had a lot of the modern amenities guys in the city had.
We played outside for fun and I only ever saw a video game when I was older visiting a cousin.
My idea of fun was hiking, camping, and rough housing in the woods with my mates. But, that first time coming into contact with a video game changed my mind about living in the countryside. I chose to go to college in a busy city and experience a different life. I started a small business while there that later took off after I graduated. My goal was to give back to my parents and make them less financially reliant on the farm. Among the first changes I did to our house when I had the money was to change the central cooling and heating unit. The one in the house was over 15 years old and kept breaking. Repair costs were quite high which put a strain on my parents. I opted to get them an energy efficient heat pump that they’d use in summer and winter. In addition, I also paid for a smart thermostat which I believe is among the best HVAC instruments of our time. I remember after the HVAC installation, I was showing mom and dad how to operate the thermostat from my phone. Mom was quite blown away by this. Dad’s wish was for the energy bill to go down which I assured him it would. A month after the HVAC installation, he called me with good news. They’d received the lowest energy bill in more than a decade though it was wintertime.