The Fan

Gee, it's been quite a while since I have written anything on my memory blog. But it's not because I have stopped remembering these things from my childhood...it's just that life gets busy and I forget to write about them when the thoughts pass through my head. Why do I write about these memories of long ago? The best reason I can give is that one day, when if my memory gets bad, I want to have them preserved. Not that I would get any enjoyment from them (if I'm dead or my brain is) but for anyone who comes after me that might stumble upon them someday. 

So I started this post last summer and then it got to be fall...and then winter. Before I knew it, it just didn't make any sense to be writing about a fan when it was cold outside! So now that the temperatures are once again stifling, the vision of "the fan" has come to the forefront of my memory bank.

This is not the actual fan but the closest I could find to what I remember it looked like.

The actual fan that kept our family cool on those hot summer days of the past is probably lying in a junk heap somewhere or is possibly living a new life if the metal was recycled. Or maybe it had been taken and placed in one of those huge metal crushers...who knows? It would bless my heart to know that someone has taken really good care of it after all of these years and it that might still be purring along, keeping someone's attic cool...but that's not very likely. Of course most everyone has A/C these days but when I think back on it, that old fan did a pretty darn good job of cooling the whole house even on the hottest of days.

The fan was attached to the outside of the window in my parent's downstairs bedroom which was right off of the living room in our small story-and-a-half home that Dad built. It would be considered an old fan even back then I think...an exhaust fan to be precise, which didn't blow cool air in, but instead sucked the hot air out. I remember when that switch was flipped to turn it on, it seemed like the whole house just took a huge breath in and held it! There was no door between that tiny bedroom and the small living area (which at one time in my little girl life seemed huge) but only a tied back curtain hung in the doorway instead. If there had been a door, the fan would not have been efficient. 

During those steaming summer days in Ohio, the downstairs windows were open at least halfway, allowing the breezes from our shady front yard created by two huge weeping willows to billow in. You would probably find another small fan or two sitting here and there to help things along. Back when I was really little, we had at least one that looked something like this.



It's pretty amazing that all eight of us kids were able to make it into adulthood without losing one or more of our digits or various other bodily appendages. After a few years, they started to make the grills a bit safer and more than likely the one like this made it out to Dad's shop. The screened front door was always open as well as was the side door in the kitchen, creating a refreshing cross-breeze on most days. 

As long as any of us kids didn't need to go up to our room for anything, we were fine....but if we did, well we nearly needed an oxygen mask to climb that narrow enclosed stairway into the stifling heat above. Just let me add, we were never ordered to "go to your room" during the daytime hours of the summer months...it would definitely fall into the category of cruel and unusual punishment! A heavy curtain hanging at the foot of the stairs kept all of that hot air from drifting down into the rest of the house. And how did we manage to sleep, you may be asking? Well, just let me tell you...

About an hour before bedtime we would begin the process of cooling down the upstairs. All of the downstairs windows were lowered to leave only about 2-3 inches open and then the magic began. That heavy curtain hanging at the stairway was pulled to the side and all of that trapped hot air began to be replaced by the cool evening air that the fan was bringing in. When it was time for bed, the curtains that hung in our bedroom windows were nearly flying off the rods and the cool evening air flooded the whole upstairs...all two rooms of it...with no door in between.

I'll never forget how trying to convince Mom & Dad to let us turn the fan on for the first time of the season was always a bit of a challenge. I wish I had a dollar for every time I tip-toed down that creaking stairway after I had already gone to bed, slowly approaching the doorway of their bedroom..."M-M-Mom...it's really, really hot upstairs and we can't sleep...can we turn the fan on just long enough to cool it off?" Needless to say, the answer wasn't always yes. Back in those days, with Dad being the only breadwinner, it was all about conserving electricity thus keeping the power bill as low as possible. But it wasn't long before it got so hot that the fan ran practically all day and all night.

A couple of my favorite memories would be how we sat on the edge of the bed, facing the fan, and talking or making weird noises into the whirling blades. I'm pretty sure we all did this at one time or another, right?

I will also always remember getting back from a day of swimming at the neighborhood lake, completely burned up from too much sun and completely depleted of energy. My sister Barb and I would get out of our wet bathing suits into dry clothes and head directly to my parents' bed...not crawling in it but lying across it sideways on top of the covers, listening to the soothing roar of that wonderful fan and falling into the soundest sleep until it was nearly time for supper.

So a few years later, the day came when Dad took the big fan out of the window and installed a couple of window air conditioner units downstairs. The air was cooler for sure, but I missed that calming whirring sound that filled the house and the open windows and doors. 

As long as I live, I will never forget that great old fan. It was basically just a big ol' hunk of metal with a motor but really it was much more than that. As I ponder these sweet memories, they take me back to the simple, carefree days when I was a little girl...no thoughts of police shootings, suicide bombings or terrorism, political unrest or just down right ugliness in general. The list could go on and on but I'll stop there. 

You may think I'm kind of silly to have an old fan bring back sweet memories of days gone by. Well, just call me silly then... that's okay by me!