From Hot Mess to Cool Comfort: My Best Check Stories

I think everybody can tell you about the best check they wrote, no matter how long ago it was.

Was it when you could finally afford that dream car you've always wanted? Maybe it was the down payment on your first house. And for many, it was probably the last check you wrote to pay off that mortgage.

Did you splurge on a family trip to someplace exotic you've always wanted to go?

When I was younger, we didn't have Facebook. So you could buy a car/motorcycle/side-by-side without posting it and saying, "So, we did a thing."

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The best check I ever wrote was in the summer of 1995. I had bought my first house, and this house had an air conditioner stuck in a wall in the kitchen. It would keep the house cool if you turned it on before it got too hot outside. But once the house got hot, you couldn't cool it off until it got cooler outside.

So I wrote a check to have central air conditioning put in. It was worth every penny.

Fast forward to this year, about a month ago. I got up to start my routine and glanced at my thermostat on my way to the Honey Nut Cheerios. It read 78 degrees—about 10 degrees too high.

It turns out that people who fix these things tend to be a little backed up in mid-July when it's been extremely hot.

It took eight days, but the new AC is in and working beautifully.

That was the second-best check I ever wrote.