It's right after 9:30 p.m. on a Thursday, and due to Winter Storm Landon our electricity went out completely. Not just our electricity, but all of the electricity on the entire city block. One of the more interesting neighbors sharing my city hood is a large hospital complex with several offices and of course, an intensive care unit, heart and lung transplant patients, and so many others who are desperately in need of having the lights on a all times; 24/7, please and thank you! When the lights do go out, and it's happened a handful of times since I've lived here, there are emergency back up generators for those folks, and for that I'm eternally thankful. I do tend, however, to say a prayer for them anyway, just in case something were to happen and they would actually be without power.
I live in a complex, where, if you've followed my blog for any time whatsoever, you'd know that I have lived here just under a 100 years, and there are neighbors who were here long before me, and may be here longer than me actually. It does seem like we're all a bunch of Highlanders! Some of the folks are well into their 80s and I fear for them as well when the power shakes, rattles or rolls. Then again, it's the younger generations who can't live without a charged phone, hot coffee, or internet access. God forbid we have a real emergency come our way -- the older I get the more prepared I am mentally, and I do have a thing or two packed away for use in these types of cases. I have a battery operated hot plate. I own any number of flashlights, which for some reason I only use to find the matches so I can light the candles. You know I have a few more candles than most; I mean, I do make them to sell them, so yeah, I'm good on the candle end of it.
My neighbor and his dog were walking outside in the two-foot snow drifts while the lights were out and I asked him if he needed anything. He smiled, waved, and said "Oh, you know, electricity if you've got any of that to spare!" Love him. He's in his mid 70's and I think his phone is truly a flip phone, not sure if he even pulls it out to check to see if anyone's called. He still has a landline, so if I want him I do the old-fashioned thing and leave a message for him on his answering machine that's literally plugged into the wall! He said he had plenty of blankets; asked if I needed any, I let him know Quinn and I were just fine. Now, he thinks I have someone named Quinn living with me. I'm sure he'll get around to asking about that tomorrow. (Quinn is my comforter. He/she/it is big enough, thick enough, and tough enough to be given its/his/her own name.) My dog and I love Quinn. Quinn loves us. It's all good.
My daughter's geckos were my main concern, after making sure all the old folks were hunkered down sufficiently. One of the things geckos are not is cold-natured. They require heating lamps, heating pads, basking areas, and the like, so Laura was wrapping each tank with clothes and duct tape to be sure they remained as warm as possible. When the lights came back on the interior temperature had dropped from 70 to 56 in about two hours. I'm not sure what we would do with the little lizards if we had been without heat much longer. We're going to find ways to fix that. I'm thinking transferring them into smaller tanks that can be heated with battery operated lamps. That's my plan. It's a good plan, and if I think of a better one I'll let myself know. For now that's the ticket! Dogs and cats don't require such hoity-toity care....give me a dog any day!
I was literally in the middle of listening to a podcast about mental health and the things that can cause someone to stress when the electricity went out -- talk about irony! I'm not one to usually stress, but I do like to keep up with podcasts, articles and such about mental health awareness so I can better assist people when they have to freak out for a minute. I'm rather patient and able to defuse most situations with a hug, a talk, a hand-holding, and a prayer. When the lights came back on we had spent just over a couple of hours without heat, without lights, without television, without internet, without the ability to charge our phones, so charging them throughout the day really is a good thing to practice. I think now that I have this sort of mind exercise going through my head, I think what I'll start doing is every week or so I'll just shut off the lights and reflect, pray, thank God for things, and just get back to the reality of what it would be like if -- you just never know.
God's grace is enough. I need to remember that.
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