My siblings and I had been talking about upgrading mom’s house one step at a time.
Knowing how stubborn mom was, there was no way we would be consulting her.
She often thought of pretty much everyone else’s comfort but her own. Since dad passed away, mom was overwhelmed and she hardly paid attention to her house like she used to. It was clear that she lacked the motivation to do the things she would have done to make dad comfortable. My siblings and brothers were all happy at the prospect of working on the HVAC system. This has been a major problem since our last visit a few months ago. We all noticed how mom’s house was colder than normal. When I brought it up, she quickly dismissed it as a momentary hitch that would be sorted the next week by her HVA worker. A few weeks passed and my sibling reported that the situation had not changed while in her recent visit. She had entirely called in an HVAC professional to assess the situation when mom was away running errands. Things were worse than mom was telling us. The old HVAC system was splitting down officially even with constant heart repairs. The HVAC expert proposed getting a new HVAC device installed as the one currently running had outdone its lifespan; No amount of repairs would make it more efficient. Since winter was around the corner, my siblings and I decided to surprise mom with a new heating system. We convinced her to visit our elder sibling Sarah for two weeks as we got the HVAC contractor and his team in to install a new radiant heating system. The idea of having radiant floors was exciting for us. We knew mom would cherish it more.