I grew up in the northern part of the state along the lake. My childhood was filled with memories of snow storms and snow days. We had more winter days than summer days. It never really occurred to me that we were missing out on summertime. When I graduated from college, I moved into a city located in the southern part of the state. I never expected that there would be such a big weather difference within the same state. In my new home, the weather is much warmer. We experience all four seasons equally. Now, I actually need to have a working cooling unit in my apartment, whereas I never really needed one growing up. I remember one summer day, my air conditioning unit broke down. It felt like the end of the world for me. It was that moment that I realized how dependent I had become on this appliance. As a child, we relied much more heavily on our heating system. We didn’t even have a cooling system. We used our heating unit for nine months out of the year. It was so important to us because of the lake effect snow that we frequently experienced. One winter, our heater stopped working. I remember seeing my father running around frantically, trying to use his tools to fix the appliance. Although it was only off for a few hours, it brought panic into our house. Looking back, I can’t believe how different things where in my hometown. It blows my mind that weather can be so different within the same state!