Electricity. We need it. We can’t live without it. But who thinks about it!? Well I do when I arrive home after a long day filled with work and evening activities to find that we have no power, and hadn’t had power for some time. So what do you think of, walking into the house in the dark? I think oh *$%^ Crap. My daughter however, is anxious and nervous and says, “Where are the candles?” I shake off my moment of frustration and get into gear. I pull out all the big chunky candles and start placing them strategically throughout the house: one in the living room, one in that bathroom and another in the kitchen.
So we have a little light; now what? Nothing. I call my sister-in-law and get no answer. Kass calls the neighbor; yes they have no power as well. So I know the block is out and it’s not just me having a crisis here without electricity. That makes me feel better. I embrace the reality of it and you bet, 9:45pm – we go to bed. What else could we do? Read by candlelight?
I turned on a light (the switch) so that when we got power during the night I would know it. Waking up several times through the night, I look at my cell phone to see the time, and wonder, “WHY don’t I have power yet?”
Well at 7:15 AM my sister-in-law returns the call from last night, waking me up and says – what did you want last night? I explain we don’t have power. Yeah you guessed it. We still didn’t have power and I have to work today….. I call a friend of mine from the office and share what is my current crisis and that I will be in, but late.
Finally I decide to take a shower, tepid and in the dark; throw on some makeup using sunlight from a window for light and pack up all my freezer goods to take to my friend’s house. She was generous enough to store them in her chest freezer. Then I head in to work. My hair is still wet and today it will be the beach look. But no remarks about the “do”, ok? You don’t know how much it took for me to come into work without actually drying and getting to style my hair… No I’m not whining…. I just want power!
