I was raised in a rural suburb of an already small town.
- My high school was tiny and I knew most of the people in my graduating class on a first name basis.
Looking back on it now, that time in my life felt stifling and stressful. Going to college in a big city was a complete change of pace. Thankfully I chose a good big city to transition into, as New York City or Los Angeles would have been too claustrophobic for me. Instead, I went to the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. I expected the city to have temperatures similar to Phoenix, but Albuquerque’s high elevation in the desert makes its climate more moderate by comparison. Once I was nearing the end of my undergraduate studies, I had no desire to leave Albuquerque to go someplace else. I decided to find a job here and rent a studio apartment for a change, as I had been in student housing since I started college. I had quite a few apartments to choose from, thankfully. And when I needed a handyman and an HVAC technician, there were several dozen options for each within the city limits. If you go to a search engine and type in “HVAC company Albuquerque” you will get dozens of results. It might not be as excruciatingly hot here like Death Valley, but we still need indoor cooling in the summer and heat in the winter. My current heating and cooling company offers discounts to veterans and senior citizens over 70 years of age. As long as I remain in Albuquerque, I’m going to stay loyal to this particular HVAC provider.