Things I Will Not Take For Granted

Electricity, heat, family, home.

Day 1: We awaken to a beautiful snow storm. Just enough inches to call off Emmy's school and keep Dave home for the day. We have lots of fun just hanging out.

Days 2 & 3: We awaken to Phase 2 of the snow storm- freezing rain that turns into a massive ice storm. A half-million in the state are without power, about 200,000 in our city. Miraculously we have power. We're stuck home, but no big deal. We keep ourselves busy.

Day 4: Dave heads off to work. Having a normal morning in spite of freezing temperatures and inches of snow and ice outside. Then, the power goes out. We hang out for several hours at home. Aidan naps, Dave naps, Emmy and I read books. We contemplate staying in the house, thinking that 4 warm humans and 2 dogs will create lots of body heat. But when the house thermostat reads 45 degrees after only 4 hours we decided we couldn't stay. We had a few offers but with the dogs our choices weren't plentiful. My sister came through for us.

Days 5 & 6: We spend these days trying not to drive my sister nuts. There isn't much to do so we drive around with dogs and at one point sat in a KMart parking lot napping. To be clear, my sister was fine with us hanging out at her house, but with a 4 year old and 1 year old we needed to stay in some sort of motion. Each night we'd head to the home to get the clothes we needed. Emmy and Aidan had colds and one night I went in to get some medicine. I dropped the bottle and it shattered. It was plastic, but the house was so cold that it had hardened like glass. Dave had to mop of the pink liquid, in the dark because we didn't have any flashlights (they were all at my sister's house where the lights worked).

Day 7: I am going crazy. I feel totally discombobulated. Emmy's wearing dirty underwear. Aidan is grumpy. Dave goes to work and my sister goes with us to lunch and play games in the arcade. Four year olds and one year olds don't respond well to a disruption in their routines. Apparently, I don't either. Dave gets off work and we begin our nightly trek to the house to let the dogs poop (they have trouble going in someone else's yard) and to get more stuff. On the way there we're sitting in a traffic jam when our neighbor calls: It's back on!!!

We drove down the street honking our horn and thanking the electrical workers. I almost kissed the floor when we walked. The next day it full speed ahead with normalcy: Baths, school, laundry, cooking, grocery, work. Ahhh. I don't take those things granted.