But back then, there was no other option for mom.
When I was two years old, my father died unexpectedly and left my mother alone to raise six children. I was the youngest of the six, and my older brothers and sisters had to do a lot more work, including help take care of me, after my dad died. At that time, we lived in a big house in the northeast. My dad worked and my mom stayed home and took care of us. I have no memory of those days because after daddy died, my mom had to get a job. Even so, life was quite hard, as you can imagine. The house was very big, and heating it in the winter was another huge problem for my mom. Back in those days, the only real heating option in northern big houses was an oil furnace with radiators, and that’s exactly what we had. The heating oil guy would come in a big truck and use a hose to put heating oil in this big tank that was underground in our backyard. I am sure that it cost a fortune even back then, and nowadays, I am sure that it is probably overwhelming for a lot of people. Some have probably replaced those old furnaces with more efficient models as HVAC technology has improved. But back then, there was no other option for mom. She couldn’t just let her kids freeze to death; heating was a necessity. I think that is the major thing that caused my mom to decide to move south. I am sure the lure of no more heating bills was attractive.