During the recent hurricane, my husband and I became one of about a bazillion Marylanders who lost power. In the time we’ve lived in our home, we’ve only lost power for a few hours.
That’s not what happened this time…
Here’s what happened:
Sunday, August 28, 5:55 a.m.—My husband and I startle awake because of a loud beeping noise.
5:57 a.m.—Husband determines our security system is beeping because the power is off. He pushes a bunch of buttons.
5:58 a.m.—Beeping stops.
5:59 a.m.—Husband informs father-in-law that the beeping was happening because the power went off.
6 a.m.—We hope this is a fluke and that the power will go back on any second.
6:02 a.m.—Still no power.
6:05 a.m.—My husband takes the dog out. I open all the blinds to let in as much light as possible.
6:10 a.m.—We play the first round of “open the fridge as fast as you can because we’re trying to keep the cold air inside” while grabbing the carton of milk.
6:31 a.m.—I decide to read a book. This losing power thing isn’t so bad. I get a ton of uninterrupted time to read! I go to the living room to read.
6:35 a.m.—I realize that the way our house is designed, we don’t get a lot of light in the living room in the morning.
6:36 a.m.—I try to turn on a lamp.
6:37 a.m.—I get mad at myself. This “trying to turn on lights” will continue throughout the day.
6:43 a.m.—After complaining to my husband about the lack of light downstairs, I go upstairs to read. There is more light up there. I am content.
9 a.m.—Our neighbor calls, and tells us he lost power too. We talk about how our power tends to go back on in no time. We promise to talk later.
10 a.m.—I realize how incredibly quiet a house is when the power is off. There are usually small noises in the background. Weird…
11 a.m.—It gets warm; we open all the windows.
Noon—We get hungry, and play round two of “open the fridge as fast as you can because we’re trying to keep the cold air inside” to get us stuff to make sandwiches.
12:15 p.m.—Third round of “open the fridge as fast as you…” and return stuff to the fridge.
1 p.m.—I check Facebook on my phone for about the 1,000th time to see if anyone has gotten power back yet. That would be a negative. I’m getting bored.
2 p.m.—A friend calls (Yay!) and says that she and her husband, who also have no power, are going to drop by. Woo hoo! Contact with the outside world.
3 p.m.—Friends stop over. She says their ice cream was the consistency of milkshakes. For the first time, I realize that we are going to lose food. My husband and I talk about what’s in the fridge and freezer and decide that we need to be mature adults and save what’s most important.
3:15 p.m.—Husband and I have saved most of the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.
4:30 p.m.—Friends leave. We’ve both accessed the internet so much on our phones that they barely have a charge.
4:35 p.m.—Husband and I are sitting in our car in the garage, with the air conditioning on, charging our phones.
4:36 p.m.—Husband manually opens garage door so that we don’t die of carbon monoxide poisoning. That’s all we would need. I can see the headlines now: Baltimore Couple Dies Because of Need to Play Words with Friends on their phones…
5:30 p.m.—We realize how dang long it takes to charge our phones.
5:45 p.m.—Where is the power????
6 p.m.—We eat something for dinner, but I don’t even remember what it was. It wasn’t a gourmet meal, that’s for sure.
7 p.m.—It’s cloudy, and now it’s really dark in the house. We talk for a while. I try reading by candlelight.
7:30 p.m.—I decide that this totally stinks and that I’m going to bed. I take the flashlight and go upstairs. I realize that I don’t go to bed this early unless I’m sick. Well, I am—I’m sick of not having power.
7:31 p.m.—I realize how incredibly dark it is in the house when there are no lights at all…not even from the clocks or the DVR or anything.
7:40 p.m.—I’m giving myself a headache trying to read by flashlight, and there is no way I’m going back downstairs in the dark to get Motrin. I’m going to sleep. After all, I’m sure there will be power tomorrow…
Monday, August 29, 6 a.m.—We wake up with no power…ARGH!!!
We were lucky; our power returned that afternoon. But in the meantime, we discovered many things about ourselves:
While we all get along, when there’s no power, it makes us cranky. Very cranky.
I know why I hate camping. I enjoy luxuries like running water. And a shower. And air conditioning.
Generator has become our new favorite word. I think we’ll be getting one soon…
Michele Wojciechowski, when’s she not freaking out each time the power flickers, writes Wojo’s World™ from Baltimore.