We recently lost our electricity for four days as the result of severe thunderstorms. It led to a few realizations for me:
In the grand scheme of things, considering that some people lost their homes, cars, or even their lives, it is not a big deal to lose your electric for four days.
Having said that, with three young kids inside and one hundred degree temperatures outside, losing your electricity for four days can feel like a big deal. Especially when it also means that you have no water.
The value of having family and friends nearby who share their air conditioning, water, and pools with you should not be underestimated.
My husband works very hard to make sure we're comfortable. The kids and I went away on a short pre-planned trip in the middle of this, and we returned to a generator powered air conditioner and working TV in our basement. Yes, it has also occurred to me that he did this to guarantee that we would, in fact, return home.
I don't do particularly well cooped up in one room of my house with my children for two days, even if it's a cool room with a working TV. And by "don't do well", I mean that sometime during day three, I'm pretty sure I watched bits of my sanity walk right out the door.
My children don't do particularly well cooped up in one room with me for two days, even if it's a cool room with a working TV. And by "don't do well", I mean that they actually loved the idea of a slumber party in the basement. Unfortunately for me, slumber parties generally involve very little slumber. One night, O finally fell asleep on the couch with Jimmy. An hour later, I woke to find him on the other couch with me. I moved to the floor, and when I woke up again, he was hanging from said couch, with his head two inches from the floor, still sound asleep. Apparently at least one of my children is part possum.
When the alternative is being outside in one hundred degree weather, I don't care how much TV my children watch. And I started not to care what they watched. When they had watched twenty seven episodes of Bernstein Bears, I started thinking that maybe The Real Housewives of New Jersey was appropriate for kids after all. (Yeah, I know what you're thinking. I should have turned off the TV and played a game with them. Really? Have you tried playing a game with all three of them? N, bless her heart, actually tries to play. B just wants to see which game piece he can hit the ceiling with, though he is usually limited to whichever piece O is not trying to eat. Don't believe me? You try it. Let me know how that goes for you.)
In spite of none of us doing particularly well under these conditions, there are advantages to not being able to cook, do the dishes, do the laundry, or clean the house for several days. But eventually, when your electricity comes back on, you will have to cook, do the dishes, do the laundry, and clean the house. And it's not pretty.
People are much nicer to one another in a crisis. One of the few restaurants that had electricity had long breakfast lines, but instead of tapping their feet impatiently, people actually wanted to talk to those around them. What makes this even more amazing is that most of these people had no water, and had therefore not taken a shower in a day or two. Did I mention it was one hundred degrees outside? Taking time to talk to the person in line behind you is one thing. Taking time to talk to the smelly person in line behind you is something else entirely.
Most importantly, I realized that if God had wanted me to live with my family of five in one small room with one hundred degree temperatures outside and limited access to water, I would have been born into a tribal culture in some other part of the world.
OK, so that last one probably isn't true, and yet--while I suspect that those who do live in one room huts with their entire families could teach me a thing or two about gratitude and acceptance--I'm feeling pretty grateful that my day to day life includes things like electricity, and water, and air conditioning.
I'm even grateful for the Bernstein Bears.
Almost.
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