For the previous twenty-five years, Dad had worked in the heating and air conditioning industry, and for the previous ten, he had owned his own business.
I still remember him telling me that he was going to start his own HVAC company when I was very young. Back then, the plan for me to be his first Heating and A/C employee and, eventually, his partner, seemed ideal. I was thrilled to learn that my father and I would soon be business partners. Now that I was older, I wanted to do different things with my life, but my father was still fixated on his childhood dream. He hoped that I would join the Heating and Air Conditioning industry like himself. Having a degree in engineering was one of my lifelong goals. I was still interested in HVAC, but I wanted to develop a system that would be more efficient. I was looking for the most environmentally friendly heating and air conditioning unit available. It would function without the use of fossil fuels or electricity. Even after I explained to my dad that I wasn’t planning on becoming an HVAC technician, he continued to believe that’s what I’d end up doing for a living. Maybe one day I’ll grant his wish and become his partner, but not in the HVAC industry. A career in the HVAC industry is where I’d like to find myself. Because of our new status as father and son, my excellent friend and I will treat each other with a new level of respect now that he is my partner.