So, we live in Northern California and have been dealing with some exciting weather over the last couple days. According to a local news source the winds approached 70mph at times. It was amazing...and a bit unsettling... to observe. Along with the amazing display came a few not so surprising side effects. Many trees were toppled, streets were flooded, big rigs overturned and of course, power lines downed...
Because of this I was thrust (very temporarily) into an electricity free life. I realized immediately that I have not yet parented without the luxury of electricity...I'll admit that at first I was a touch nervous in those first moments but then a sense of adventure took over. What fun we could have, and how lucky we are to have this state of inconvenience be such a novelty. I am very aware that there are many folks on this planet who don't find a lack of heat and electricity so exciting.
Quickly the flashlights were gathered, food figured out, sweaters put on (electric central heat,=no central heat), lack of a manual can opener noted (I have arthritis and can't use one anyway)...and we generally got the lay of the lights-free land.
Much of what I had scheduled for the day had to be abandoned as I was unable to release my car from the garage (automatic garage door opener...couldn't release it on my own). Also, no internet, so that post I had been planning would have to wait. I am not a very patient person much of the time so complete departure from my ideas of what the day would hold was tough at first. I had no control though...instead, all I had was time...
Many of the first moments of all that time were filled with tedious explanations of what was going on and why we shouldn't keep opening the fridge. After a lot of that the kids, as kids often do, accepted their new reality as normal and carried on business as usual. There was playing to do and this new development would only enhance things! They built caves and used their flashlights...played dress up and made lego houses. And seeing that the darkness was full of potential...I gave in. I let go of hoping the lights would just come on already and found that there were many things I wanted to do. I crocheted a new hat, drank cold morning coffee, read a bit and felt deeply that with my little family around me any moment had the potential to be special.
The power outage was like a little reset for my mind...everything was turned off, and when it came back on I had a different outlook.
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