DeeDoo’s Digital Scrapbooking Blog

When we were refreshing our former home all the current decorating advice favored removing ceiling fans and replacing them with ‘great light fixtures’—-like chandeliers or whatever. Ceiling fans were reviled as ugly monstrosities of dubious value, and many a fan found its way to the local city dump. Not ours. Our fans remained firmly attached and functional. Removing a ceiling fan except to replace it with an updated fan would be like giving the boot to an old, trusted friend. They are the ‘big brothers’ to the little fans I grew to love and remember so fondly from my childhood. Like those little fans, the ceiling fans in my family room and bedrooms today bring me comfort and a sense of well-being like nothing else. Oh, how lovely and refreshing naps are with one of these babies watching over you! Almost like being a kid again . . .

When I was a child growing up in southern Illinois air conditioning was a luxury, and since the temperature never rose too high during the spring and summer back then, neither my family nor any of my friends had air-conditioned homes. Instead, on balmy summer afternoons we all used oscillating fans to provide a gentle breeze that stirred the air just enough to keep a room comfortable. One small fan per room usually did the trick.

My sister and I shared a bedroom where we were obliged also to share a double bed. Daily during the summer our mother would announce that it was time for our afternoon nap, which we protested loudly as unnecessary and a waste of time, we with so many things left to be done outside. Regardless of our protestations, nap we did.

I can feel it now, lying on that bed with the curtains barely drawn, the window raised to allow the outside air to be drawn into the room through the window screen. Our little fan would turn its head slowly while its blades revolved, distributing a gentle breeze across us as we lay giggling, dividing the bed into ‘my side’ and ‘your side’ with an imaginary line drawn from between our pillows, ending at the foot of the bed. And I remember the sound of our little fan, a quiet, repetitive whir, lulling our unwilling eyes to become heavier and heavier, and, finally, to sleep that deep, deep sleep that only a carefree child can enjoy, safe in the comfort of home.

Me get rid of my ceiling fans? No way. Their reminder of my distant, carefree childhood is more than enough justification for thumbing my nose at modern design in home decor.