When you think back to the coldest times in your life, what comes to mind? Maybe you were camping and got stranded in the middle of a brutal storm? Perhaps you lost heat in the dead of winter and had to get by without any modern forced air furnace? There are many dramatic scenes that could come flooding into your mind when you consider the most uncomfortable cold of your life.
For me, the situation that always comes to my recollection is quite different.
I remember being about 15 years old and riding to a show with my older brother and his friend. It was probably November or December, so the outdoor air temperature was quite low and unpleasant. We generally never have air temperatures higher than 20 degrees around that time of year. As you can imagine, it was important to stay inside and utilize Modern Heating throughout the seasons. Any exposure to the cold outdoor air was shocking to your system and invited hours of shivering to your life. As I rode in the car on that dark winter night, my brother and his friends took turns rolling down their windows to smoke cigarettes. Suddenly, the warm environment inside the car was completely ruined with frigid air streaming through the windows and whipping through the back seat. I remember sitting with my arms wrapped around myself, shivering in the excruciating cold. I tried asking for additional heating in the car, but my brother told me the heater was on max. As I held my hands directly in front of the air vent and pulled dirty sweatshirts off the seat onto my lap, I swore that I would never forget this freezing cold experience driving with two smokers.