We had a fairly strange fourth. It had been miserably hot and muggy on the third…so we threw in the towel and installed the a/c units (we being J). We also pulled the little man’s mattress into our bedroom, so we could share the magical cooling powers of a/c, and hopefully each catch a decent night’s sleep. But a funny thing happened around 4am. I woke up to silence, punctuated by occasional thunder and lightning. The boys slept on, completely oblivious. But I immediately knew something was wrong. The storm had knocked the power out. I lay back hoping it would only be temporary, that the a/c and air purifier would whir back to life at any moment…but I kept waiting. I nudged J into half-awareness, trying to tell him…and to see if he’d understand the repercussions. He didn’t then, but several hours later he woke up, wheezing, with his asthma aggravated…as my house continued to wage its war against him. J had no choice but to flee, as his only weapon had been rendered useless. His parents live nearby yet were unaffected by the power outage. I was jealous, but sent J on his way. It was a gloomy morning, so the house was dark without additional lumination. My favorite distractions were unavailable as well…no computer, no playstation, no videos. After preparing a dull, dry breakfast for the little man (cereal, raisins, almonds) the temptation to open the fridge was too great. We had to get out of the house. First we headed to Seward Cafe for breakfast, then visited a playground I’d been meaning to stop at for a while. Both were decent distractions, causing us to be out and about for a few hours…but when we returned the house was still powerless. Finally I called Xcel and had my fears confirmed. Power might not be restored until noon, the next day. Ugh. Admitting defeat, I called around to cancel the bbq we were scheduled to have. What would have been my fifth annual fourth of July bbq. I’d spent much time the night before preparing the marinated tofu/veggie kebabs, but it wasn’t to be. Eventually J returned from his folks house, to unload our fridge and transfer the goods to their spare (thankfully they’ve got a spare). We did end up grilling our kebabs (no electricity needed) and taking the cooked food over to J’s family bbq. The weather had pulled a 180 so it turned into a lovely afternoon and evening. Afterwards we returned to our house to pack for an overnight elsewhere, but just as we were preparing to depart the power came back on. And we’ve been making use of it. This morning I woke up, after a storm-free sleep, with that dang Schoolhouse Rock song stuck in my head.
“He knew that it had somethin’ to do with lightnin’, It’s all uh…Electricity, Electricity.”
