My father is one of those people who believes in using a functioning appliance, car, or device until it dies.
He has always been this way since I was a child. He would make sure we made the most of everything in our house. Dad would only buy a replacement after learning there were no more repairs to be done. When I was about eight years old, my family had an old station wagon. Dad adored the car, but everyone else despised it. We were driving home from a school drop-off when the car began smoking in the middle of the road. Dad pulled over and tried everything he could to fix it, but it was too late. Only then did he purchase a new car, and mom made certain that it was the model she desired and the color was red. Little has changed in the intervening years. When I went home to see my parents last summer, I discovered they had a problem with faulty air conditioning. Mom said she had been insisting on replacing the air conditioner, but dad was opposed. She didn’t press the issue because she knew the end was near, and lo and behold, the air conditioning stopped working. Dad contacted the local heating and cooling company for assistance, but they were fully booked for the next three days. I had driven the day before and was now sweating profusely because the air conditioning was turned off. Dad realized he’d made a mistake and apologized to mom, promising to fix the faulty air conditioning.