Random Musings

Don't know what you've got 'til it's gone...

Yesterday some pretty fierce storms passed through here. High winds, that rain that slams against the doors, window, and the roof in slanted sheets. It got so dark, that we cut shut down all the electronics, grabbed a flashlight and headed for the lower level of the house. Then the power went out.

The storm didn’t last very long, maybe ten fifteen minutes or so. The worst of it lasted less time than that, but the power didn’t come back. We unplugged the computers and the laptops to avoid a possible surge when it did, and then we waited. It was almost comical all the things we tried to do without thinking that it took power to do them. Flicking light switches, trying to heat hot water for hot chocolate on an electric range, needing to curl my freshly washed hair but the flat iron is stone cold.

My husband, off work for the day, had planned a leisurely afternoon in the “man cave”, reclined in one of his theatre chairs, watching his 62” television, and eating air-popped popcorn. He had asked if later I would fry some chicken wings and make some dip for the All-Star game.

When the power went out, he had been in the middle of copying some music from his new turntable onto his laptop to transfer to his Zune. After an hour went by, and he still wasn’t able to access any of his toys, he suggested going to the sports bar to eat and to at least be able to watch the game.

No lover of sports myself, and desirous of sticking to the healthy eating patterns I have been trying to establish, I begged off and told him to go on by himself. His friends would be there at the bar, and I greatly enjoy my own company. I was anticipating the power not being out that long. Besides, with him gone, I could get some writing done. After all, I still had battery access on the laptop.

He went down to the garage, but a few minutes later, I could hear him calling me. When I went down to see what he wanted, he was laughing, telling me that he thought he should show me how to get out of the garage should I decide to leave. Both garage doors are on electric openers. Yes, I would have been pissed.

With him out of the way and the chicken wings off my horizon, I sat down to edit a section of a story I have been working on. I finished the handwritten edits and transferred them to the laptop. By the time I finished, it was beginning to get dark outside, and the power still had not been restored. I do enjoy my own company, but I didn't relish the thought of being here by myself in inky blackness and surrounded by the eerie absence of the house noise one doesn’t notice until it’s not there.

I decided to get dressed, pack a tote with a book, my writing notebook, journal, and some pens and go to a restaurant. I could eat, read, and continue to work on the story. I changed, got the tote bag ready, and went into the office to print out the piece I had just worked on. That was when I realized that wasn’t going to work. Not only is the printer powered by electricity, it’s wireless, and the network was knocked out along with every other modern convenience I was suddenly missing. All I could do was laugh at my dependency.

I spent a couple hours at O’Charley’s, dragging the meal out and hanging around a bit longer once I was finished to wait out the rain that had begun coming down in torrents again. When it let up, I headed back home, only to find the subdivision completely black STILL.

We have lots of trees here, pines, hardwoods, tall shrubs, so the car’s headlights were a very good thing. A city girl at heart, one who requires streetlights even if they are spaced out pretty far, I was paranoid to say the least about it. Without the headlights, I wouldn’t have been able to see a thing in front of me, not even that couple who, for some reason, were out for a walk.

After manually lifting and closing the garage door again, I used the flashlight I’d purchased at Walmart on the way back from the restaurant to unlock the door and get into the house. I got the oil lamp from the laundry room. It was dusty and the chimney was filthy, but I was gratified to see that is was three-quarters full with oil. In my bathroom, it lit right up. It was as I was washing out the chimney that I realized I had hot water. I had forgotten that we have a gas water heater. Suddenly things were looking way up.

I have a thing for aromatic candles. I collect them, but don’t burn them as much as I used to because of how they blacken the walls and curtains. Last night, I didn’t care. I lit several and placed them on the counter and on the ledge around the bathtub. The oil lamp I set in the bedroom proper, then I ran a hot bath.

I climbed in with a wine cooler from the mini-fridge here in the bedroom- it was still cold, I guess because the door hadn’t been opened. With the flickering, fragrant low lights, the quiet I had grown accustomed to, the warm suds enveloping my outer body while the wine warmed my insides, I closed my eyes and floated away.

Then the power clicked back on, scaring the hell out me.

Lights bright and blinding, quartz numbers flashing, alarm system chirping over to regular power, appliances humming back to life, the TV downstairs making it sound as if I was no longer home alone.

I was almost sad.