Like most fathers I’ve appointed myself as being in charge of determining what’s acceptable regarding thermostat settings as well as which lights should be on in the house. There’s a great scene in the movie Daddy’s Home 2 where the fathers are appalled when one of the kids has the gall to touch the thermostat during the winter heating season. I can relate!
In our house it wasn’t just the thermostat but also the lights and ceiling fans. Ever since the kids were little I would turn off lights and ceiling fans in unoccupied rooms multiple times per day.
I tried everything. Threats, additional chores, making the kids give me a quarter for every light I had to turn off, etc. I think I even raised the tariff to one dollar at some point but to no avail.
Our home has a bonus room upstairs which served many purposes over the years. When they kids were very little we had a small bounce house up there. As they got older it became a massive collection of Legos, costumes, swords, nerf guns, and plush toys. Then came video games and a ping pong table.
Over the past year or so upstairs became Gav’s place to hang out and chill. He would often retire upstairs after completing his homework or in the mornings on weekends. He would relax, watch YouTube, play video games, and just enjoy the solitude.
Upstairs has its own thermostat. I could always hear Gav walk up the steps, go directly to the thermostat and “click! click! click! click! click! click!...” drop the set point down to 65 degrees. Rachel and I would holler upstairs for him to turn it back up to something reasonable.
If I wasn’t there to hear it I would know he had turned the set point down because there would be a gush of frigid air billowing down the stairs into the hallway below.
It was a comical interaction that occurred multiple times daily.
One time when Gav was maybe 10 years old he wrote a petition to change the thermostat setting. I believe his intent was to have his mom and brother sign the petition before bringing it to my attention. Fortunately, I sniffed out the uprising and managed to quell it before it became a full-fledged rebellion. He did however manage to get Rachel to sign on.
We long to experience these simple interactions with him again. Its little things like this that make a family unique. Rachel, Conor and I still have them, but our lives will simply never be the same without Gavin.
THIS...this is what it's all about. The day to day battles and interactions that drive us crazy. I love that you look back on them fondly with just a touch of remorse. I mean, it's still a battle. You could never in a million years known when that battle would end. Reliving the back and forth is important. Full disclosure, I'm on Team Dan 100% on this one, just turn the lights off.