On The Road to a Simpler Time

Be honest - of the thousands of you who lost power during the last round of intense summer storms, who didn't spend just a little time complaining?   This heat and humidity is unbearable!  How am I supposed to do anything in the dark?  There's no way I can do my hair without a blow-dryer and flat iron! How am I supposed to cook - and even if I could, all the food in the fridge is spoiled!  

And of course, with no electricity, there's no TV!  That's where my story begins.

I live in an area where power outages are the norm, not the exception.  After the first one, we bought a generator - not enough to supply power to the entire house, but enough to keep the refrigerator running, supply juice to one air conditioner window unit and fire up other various and sundry appliances!  

The downside to this - my house becomes a web of extension cords, and it's still not enough to power up all the things that make up my daily routine.

The upside to this - it forces me to slow down...w a y  d o w n  in how I go about life with little or no power.  No TV...well, I have a battery powered radio, an air card for my computer and a smart phone, so I am still "connected" to the outside world, but life without TV 24/7 is a much quieter place.  I don't mean that in a bad way - it's what I do for a living!  But because TV news is my livelihood, I tend to bring it home with me - ALL THE TIME!

No TV means we talk to each other during dinner - not about the news in the background, but about our day.  We interact.  Amazing.

No TV means I can read a book for wind down time - something I really enjoy, but never seem to have enough time for, since I'm always catching up on TV shows I DVR!  

No TV means quiet. Away from the noise of the generator, the sounds of a neighborhood without power stand out - birds chirping, lots of them - some calls I don't think I've heard before!  Wind, rustling through the trees.  A calming quiet that seems to melt away the stress.

And then, as soon as I start adjusting to this simpler way of life, the power comes back on - not quietly, but in a most obtrusive way - at midnight - startling everyone awake!  In an instant, we're back in hectic mode, resetting clocks, cabling up extension cords, trying to fall back asleep knowing the day is going to start much sooner than it should!

What I take away from this experience is the need to make a conscious effort to SLOW DOWN; then I need to save money for a more powerful generator!

Comments

[Josh]

Okay, I don't get this. Yesterday, the traffic was really bad on Addison and California because the traffic light was broken. That was during my bus ride to work at around 7:30 AM. On my way home, it's still not fixed and this was around 6 PM. There were city worker with their crane so I was assuming they would fix it, but neither one did anything. I actually have a photo of the lazy city workers if you want it. This morning was the same issue. What were they doing there last night if they didn't fix the traffic light? So, much for the city that works. Apparently, it isn't working. And they're getting paid how much per hour? Down with the union crap. That belongs to my parent's generation. Unions do not belong to this century.