Love That Air

We took Henry to see Randall’s Grandad last weekend. He has a window unit in his home. It is one of the older homes in their town…in fact I believe it was Randall’s great-grandparents home. He has a window unit. As a parent of a toddler I often fail to prepare and plan for new discoveries. They in turn catch me off guard. This was a discovery that resulted in great loud “AHHHHHH’s” in the vent, lots of arm waves in front of the vent and lots of me going “NO! Do not touch the buttons, Henry!!”. It was really cute how he spotted it, ran toward it and immediately went “AHHHHHH“.

It made me laugh and almost cry. It took me back to Spradling Avenue when I was a little girl. At that time my grandparents lived in the home my mother grew up in and they had a window unit. While watching Henry discover the fun of a window unit, I remembered the smell of that air, it is not like any other smell. I remembered the “Ahhhhhh’s“, trying to catch the air, and my family telling me to get away from it.
Henry is experiencing that fun now. I just love making memories with him that will last a lifetime. I know it is just a window unit, but the window unit in my memory bank was in a house where I knew I was loved and accepted. Henry will know in his Grandad’s house he was the crown prince, and shared a name with the man who often called him “Hank” because he loved to joke with his mama and make her say “No Hank!”… and remember that window unit just like I remember my Mawmaw and Pawpaw’s. So simple, yet so sweet.