You Don't Realize

How much you depend on electricity until you don't have it for a while.

Oh the hardship! Last night I had taken my shower and was in my pajamas ready to settle down on the couch with my hot tea and the TV remote, ready for an evening of watching a few of my favorite shows and relaxation before bed. I had just turned the TV on and taken a sip of tea and everything went black. It took me a few seconds to realize that the power had gone out. I sat there for a few minutes because I could not see a thing other than faint light coming in the back door, not even the other end of the couch.

I knew where the flashlights were, but how to get to them when I can't see the other end of the couch? Very carefully. I put my hands in front of me much like a blind person, and felt for the table by the couch so I wouldn't trip over it, then carefully made my way to the kitchen, hands waving in front of me searching for the breakfast bar and the wall. More faint light was coming in the kitchen window so at least I knew where that was, not that it helped me see anything but the kitchen window. We have a flashlight on top of the fridge but my groping hands couldn't find it up there, so more waving of hands and blind searching for the knob on the garage door. Where another flashlight sits right inside on a workbench.

Flashlight found, I looked outside to see no lights anywhere on our street, but hey, the street down at the end of ours looks like they have power and so does the neighborhood across the main street out there. So, what the heck? We aren't having a storm and I didn't hear sounds of an accident that would have knocked out power somehow and no sirens anywhere, so where are my lights?

I settled in with my flashlights and a book since I couldn't do much of anything else in the dark. You don't realize how quiet it is when refrigerators aren't humming and clocks aren't ticking.

Finally, about an hour and a half later, the TV comes back on and the refrigerator starts to hum again. I go around the house resetting all the clocks, luckily we have a battery powered clock in the kitchen so I knew what time it was. I kept that flashlight right next to me for the rest of the night, though, even keeping it next to my bed just in case.

Then, this morning as the washer and dryer are going and I'm getting ready to vacuum, out goes the power again. At least I wasn't in the dark this time, though, and it came back on in about 15 minutes. But, more clock setting had to be done and I'll keep that flashlight nearby tonight just in case.