Lack of Power

Today we spent the majority of the day with out electricity. Around 10 am while I was changing lightbulbs in the kitchen chandelier, the sound of silence and darkness filled the air. No humming fridge, dishwasher, laundry or radio. The quiet hum of our computers and my plotter silenced for a short period of time... or so we thought. After a call to the local power company we got back to our morning. We showered, kids did chores and we waited for power to return so we could iron clothes, blow dry and curl hair for church, shave faces and dry the last load of clothes. But to no avail. The power did not return. So we cleaned off the coffee table, put on confy jeans and sweatshirts, and settled in to spend the afternoon without power.

We sent the kids in search of a board game, they came back with our poker set and asked us to teach them to play poker... hmmm.... not sure how I felt about that I turned to Brady with a question in my eyes. "Ok, but without the chips, no gambling- this is just like Yahtzee." Which we play on xbox. So began the introduction of pairs, 3 of a kinds and full house. After a few hands we moved on to BlackJack, cuz that teaches math right?

4 hours into our back out I made another call to the power company. They said they were working on the "situation" and were hoping to have it back on in a hour or two. So I left to Kmart to find a shovel to dig out the 6 inches of snow on the driveway and left Brady to entertain the kids. When I returned the house was humming again. The furnace was on and the house was almost toasty again, the fridge was purring away and I could here the xbox in the basement.

Our life had returned to normal.

As we were sitting in the silence I reflected on a black out during my childhood. I remember mom and dad running around filing pitchers and bowls with water. Collecting all the candles and candle holders, and bringing in wood for the fireplace. I told the kids of spending a full day or night without power. Grandpa Oborn keeping the fire roaring for heat and carrying candles to the bathroom for light, then not being able to flush the toilet. They were fascinated. Here we were watching the power guys drive around the neighborhood trying to find the problem, knowing the power would be on shortly. Mom must have lived in the WAY olden days!!!