Deep Thoughts During a Power Outage

Let me begin by saying I have a lot more respect for the Amish.

During a thunderstorm earlier this evening, a lightning strike in my neighborhood knocked down a power line and killed electricity for all the houses on my street and the street behind me. Thankfully, nobody was injured, and I was incredibly impressed by the speed of the public safety units. After the lightning strike, which was just four houses down from mine, there was an ambulance, a fire safety vehicle, two fire trucks and a police officer all at the scene in less than five minutes. Quite impressive.

Now, the electric company on the other hand, did not quite come through with the same speed and efficiency. The lightning strike happened around 5:30 pm. All the public safety units were there by 5:35 pm. The electric company decided to wait about four hours before they showed up.

During this long power outage, it gave me quite a bit of time to think about life without electricity – and how much I hate it! This led me to a variety of different thoughts and tasks to kill the time while waiting for the electric company to arrive.

Timing is everything, and for the power to go out on this day was horrible timing for me. I am in the midst of packing so I can leave for a 12-day visit to Barcelona, Spain. No electricity not only makes it impossible to do laundry so I can pack clean clothes, it makes it really hard to go through your clothes and pack when you cannot see. So, in terms of getting ready for my trip, the entire night was a waste.

When it comes to food, no matter what anyone says, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is one of the best meals around. I use the term ‘meal’ lightly here, but bear with me. Peanut butter and jelly is also one of the few meals you can make without the use of the stove, oven or the microwave. And it certainly beats chicken that was in the oven for about five minutes and cold corn on the stove.

Periodically, I would try and break the old wives’ tale of ‘a watched pot never boils,’ and would continually walk out to the front yard and look down the street to see if anyone was working on the problem. Each time I was greeted by the same site of no electric company trucks – just a lone fire truck. There were three firemen who obviously drew the short straw and stayed to keep the road blocked and sectioned off to prevent anyone from going around the downed power line. I can’t imagine how bored those guys must have been, but they passed the time by shooting the fire house at the kids and other bystanders who strayed too close to the area. (Okay, I am kidding about that part – but it would have been funny to see.)

Once that last bit of sunlight faded, the house became quite dark and made moving around a major task. Hellen Keller would have had no trouble, but I on the other hand, seem to have completely forgotten the layout of my furniture and where the walls are located. I’m sure it was quite amusing to my cat, who can see in the dark just fine, to watch me bump into things all night.

Speaking of my cat, anyone with a cat, or a dog for that matter, understands how pets have a knack for getting in the way. They seem to always be able to lay on the floor in just the right spot to get in your path, or sneak up from behind to try and trip you when you turnaround. The one thing I was truly grateful for tonight was the fact that my cat is white. Whenever he was moving around, the white fur stood out against the black hole the enveloped my house so I could keep an eye on him. However, his all black tail got stepped on more than once.

I do not claim to be an expert on anything related to fashion. Just ask my sister. However, I must say that one fashion accessory that is highly undervalued is a miners’ hat. You know what I’m talking about. Those hard shelled construction hats with the light on the front? Having one of those hats during a power outage would be very in style if I do say so myself.

As I mentioned earlier, I have a million little things to get done before I leave to go overseas. Almost all of these were impossible to do without seeing. This led me to try and come up with ways to illuminate even a small area so I could do something besides sit. Looking out the front window, I suddenly had a flash back to my childhood. I ran into the kitchen (hitting just one wall along the way), grabbed an empty Ragu jar, and with the help of a couple kids from down the street, proceeded to gather as many lightning bugs as I could. Turns out they don’t produce as much light as you would think.

Habits are definitely hard to break too. Even though the house is completely black, with no electricity on the entire street, every time I walked to the back of the house I would turn on the hallway light switch before I realized – duh, no electricity. About 12 steps down the hall I would then walk into the bathroom and again flip the light switch on with no result. Duh.

Now, let me preface this next observation by proclaiming that I am not a peeping tom. However, during the many times I looked outside to see if by some miracle the electric company had arrived, I would look around and see the lights and television both on through the front window of the house across the street. It was at this point I realized that it was just the houses on my side of the street that did no have power, not the entire area. If there is anything more frustrating than being in the dark, it was realizing that not everyone was going through the same pain I was experiencing.

At this point, I decided that sitting on the couch in the dark and staring into the middle of nothing was going to drive me insane. So I got in the car and drove to Walgreens to buy a few little items I needed for the trip, and figured I’d buy candles while I was there. My college education was finally paying off – buy candles and I’ll have some light. After a trip that cost $25, I returned feeling triumphant and thinking these three candles will give me enough light to get some things done.

As I returned home from the store, a trip that lasted about five to ten minutes max, I rounded the corner onto my street and saw the trucks from the electric company around the area starting to fix the problem. My first thought was that earlier mentioned wives’ tale must be true – a watched pot doesn’t boil. My second thought was that it only took them four hours to arrive at the scene, should be another two hours at least before they get it fixed. After all, they get paid by the hour and this is overtime work.

I proceeded to put away some of the things I had bought at the store, this time walking around the house with a flashlight to avoid running into anything. (I get smarter by the minute). I put the candles on my desk, thinking this is going to work great. Three large sized candles – plenty of light to do some things. I got out the matches, and struck the first match – providing the first illumination in the house in over four hours.

As I sat there about the light the first candle and marveling at such a simple concept of light from the flame of a match…. the electricity kicked back on.