All in my household are ok. We have no lights and no heat but we are fine. We’ve been without lights for 3 days already and it’s expected to last another 4 days or so.
I fully expected to come back here after the storm and tell you how miserable everything was. Since reports first came that the storm was headed our way, I was more worried about how it would affect Jay’s behaviour than anything else. We’re not in a flood prone area and we don’t have any trees that could fall on us.
The reality is that I can’t tell you how awful the last few days have been because I’d be lying. Not to sound insensitive to those who are suffering but we’ve been having fun. The biggest problem we have is that it’s cold at night so we have to bundle up A LOT.
During the day, Ace and Jay keep themselves busy by building forts and actually playing with their toys and adult men even got into a Paper Plane Making Contest to amuse the kids. CC taught Ace to play some card games. I have given piggy back rides and we’ve played I Spy and read stories. We’ve eaten too much junk. We’ve turned on the battery operated radio and danced and we’ve played Simon Says. Just yesterday evening Ace and I were playing Rock Paper Scissors and it had us both in stitches. At one point, I made Paper and he made a fist with 1 just finger sticking out. I asked him if that was supposed to be a Rock or the Scissors and he told me it was a sword and that the game was now Rock Paper Scissors Sword. Then in one round he made all 5 of his fingers into a Claw and I made 2 of mine into a Pincher. Maybe it’s one of those things that you had to be there to fully appreciate but the sillier we got, the more we laughed and it was great.
We have gotten to know some of our neighbours much better and as it turns out they are generous and fun and funny. In the night, we light candles and our neighbours – some that we are used to hanging out with and some less familiar ones – come over and we eat dinner together and we have drinks and we talk and we LAUGH and we stay up too late and make too much noise teasing each other and playing Taboo but it’s hilarious.
Yes, we’ll be happy to get our power back on but the bottom line is that we were very lucky and we’re making the best of things.
There hasn’t been any extra fighting or yelling or tantrums or whining. There has been a lot more talking and helping and reaching out and sharing. Let’s hope those things last long after the electricity comes back on.
Life On The B Side 
Glad to hear all is well. Your story is a familiar one. After Hurricane Ivan visited us we were without power for 5 days. I rather liked it. Our lives where simpler. We woke up at morning’s first light and wrapped up our activities at dusk. At night I sat in the family room and looked out the window into the darkness. Without the city lights the shadows were different and as weird as it might sound, I rather enjoyed those evenings of darkness. And as you mentioned, neighbors helped neighbors. It was awesome to see the spirit and the community come together. You have a positive spirit, may it remain so. 🙂
i agree 100%. it’s good for the soul to disconnect with technology and reconnect with the earth, planning your day by the rise and set of the sun instead of the to-do list, having time to just stare out into the night and think. or not think (which is equally awesome). even my vacations feel like a race, trying to fit in everyone’s activities, etc. power outages are a real vacation.
I am glad to hear that everyone is ok…and I hope that your electricity is restored very soon!!
I love reading stories about communities coming together–and I hope that it continues once lives start getting back to “normal”. Enjoy your rock, paper, scissors…or sword…or pincher….we have fun like that, here, and I wouldn’t trade those moments for the world!!
really glad to hear you’re all ok and surviving! Have the kids got school? Has the school got power? A simpler life does sound like fun for a short time anyway! I would love to play “stone”, paper, scissors, claw etc with Ace!
xxx
No school for the kids this entire week.
It just goes to show how much time we waste in our every day lives when we could be doing the simple things. Gets you thinking, that maybe we should throw away the computers, TVs etc and start living.
Glad you all had fun, sounds like a cool few days, albeit a stormy one 🙂
we have hurricanes down here pretty often. there is almost always some loss of life and that means i get a handful of guilt for enjoying myself. A power down is so healthy. I always enjoy our sometimes brief/sometimes lengthy days without power. there is something calming about it. it’s good for the soul, in my opinion. and then the electricity comes back and life picks up and starts moving so fast i feel like i’m running to keep up and probably leaving someone behind. enjoy it, sweetie! just b/c the storm is the catalyst for some people’s pain, doesn’t mean it can’t also be the catalyst for a really enjoyable disconnect for you and your family. in fact, if anything, it helps create balance and means it’s not a completely awful thing. 🙂
Glad you are safe and doing well! We had a similar experience last year when we lost power for 7 days after the October snowstorm. People actually talked to each other, neighbors reached out, the kids played lots of games. It was frustrating after awhile but still good in its own way.
“There has been a lot more talking and helping and reaching out and sharing. Let’s hope those things last long after the electricity comes back on.” Yes. Thinking of you all.