A Day I’ll Never Forget
There are a lot of days I remember riding around on HVAC service calls with my dad.
Most of them blur together.
Hot truck.
Long drives across Columbia.
In and out of houses where the AC wasn’t working.
But one day has always stood out.
Not because of the work.
Because of a stop we made in between.
Just Riding Along Like Always
At that point, riding along with my Dad was just normal. Breakfast at Hardees, Lunch at McDonalds and then home. Service calls scattered between.
We’d be running HVAC service calls all over Columbia, West Columbia, and Lexington. I wasn’t thinking about business or systems or anything like that.
I was just there hanging out with Dad and playing my Gameboy inbetween stops.
At each stop I was watching, helping when I could.
It was usually hot.
Like really hot.
The kind of South Carolina heat where your shirt sticks to you before the day even really gets started.
A Quick Stop Between Calls
Somewhere in between service calls, he pulled into Best Buy.
I didn’t think anything of it. Palm Pilots had just come out and he said he needed to grab something for one of them.
It wasn’t unusual to stop somewhere quick during the day. Grab something to drink. Take a break for a few minutes before heading to the next house.
But this time was different. Usually I would stay in the truck, but he asked me to come inside.
He told me to pick out a new game because he noticed I had been playing the same one for the last three weeks.
The game I picked out was “Pokemon: Yellow Version”
At the Time, It Was Just a Game
Back then, Pokemon: Yellow Version was honestly jsut another game to me. I knew it had been hyped up, but it was really something that just made the ride a little more exciting.
We got right back to it after that. Dad fixing systems and me playing Gameboy.
That stop was only a half an hour. Just long enough to grab the game, a couple of cases for the Palm Pilots and something to drink.
After that, the day just kept moving like it always did.
Now That Day Means Something Completely Different
That same game now is worth more than I ever would’ve imagined back then.
If I’m being honest, if I could go back to that exact moment, I’d probably tell him:
“Buy every one they’ve got.”
Just so we could leave the majority of them sealed. We would be rich!
But that’s not really what matters.
What sticks with me now isn’t the value of the game.
It’s the moment itself.
What I Didn’t Realize Back Then
At the time, I thought I was just tagging along on HVAC service calls.
But looking back, I was watching something I didn’t fully understand yet.
Long days.
Showing up when people needed help.
Running call after call across Columbia in the middle of the summer.
And somewhere in the middle of all that, still making time for something small that mattered to me.
No big deal.
Just part of the day.
That’s What Stuck
The game just happens to be the thing I remember.
But it could’ve been anything.
Because the real thing that stuck was what those days actually looked like.
Work first.
People first.
Responsibility first.
And everything else just fit in where it could.
What That Means to Me Now
Now, when I think about HVAC service in Columbia, SC, I don’t just think about repairs or equipment.
I think about those days.
Running calls.
Helping people when their systems went down.
And the kind of work it takes to keep showing up day after day.
Because that’s what I grew up around.
And whether homeowners see it or not, that’s still what drives how this business operates today.
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