The other day, I told my children about a time when the public library was a hangout place.
Some relationships even started at the library.
Parents could easily allow you to go to the library than if it was a different place. I remember a day I told my mother that I had gone to the library while, in reality, I had gone skating with some of my friends. My father, an HVAC technician at the local homeowner solutions, happened to have gone to the library that day. The building that housed the library was upgrading its heating equipment. They had an electric furnace that had seen better days, and even the regular furnace/heater tune-up was not working anymore. They had contacted the heating business earlier to get advice on the best system to guarantee quality heating. The HVAC professional suggested a dual-fuel approach. The type of system was more suitable for such a big area, and it would ensure indoor comfort compared to the other heating devices. Most heating contractors from the HVAC supplier were busy installing the unit, and the library had been closed for the day. After the installation, all the library management had to do was ensure regular heat pump service to last as long as the other one did or even longer. All the while, I was busy elsewhere, and even when my mother asked me where I was, I didn’t even bat an eyelash when I said the library. My father and mother just looked at each other and smiled, which is how they grounded me for a whole week. Mainly not because of skating but because of lying about it.