My cousin lives in the sunny South where it rarely snows.
- We visit each other year-to-year, taking turns on who visits who.
I live in the North where it’s rather cold in the winter time and there’s plenty of snow. We grew up together as the only children of our respective parents and really enjoyed each other’s company on vacations and other times we got to hang out. Though we both went to the same school together, when our careers took off, we both ended up on opposite sides of the country. Last year, it was my turn to go visit my cousin down south. To tell you the truth, I was really looking forward to the sunny weather compared to the way it was at home. Unfortunately, my cousin called me to warn me that a freak storm rolled in, causing his pipes to freeze, knocking out power, and ruining his furnace. Despite this development, I resolved to get on the flight anyway. After all, I guess we would find a way to deal with the winter cold. I flew to him and he picked me up from the airport. At the least, his car was nice and toasty thanks to its heater. However, when we arrived back at his place, it was clear that the furnace wasn’t working at all. He said it had made a terrible noise the night before, and suddenly, there was no heat anymore. My cousin had to call out an HVAC technician, but unfortunately, the technician would not be available for a few days. In the interim, we decided to rent a hotel for my time there.