BLACK OUT

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Back in December, southeast Idaho had a few significant power outages. The first one happened about 7 in the evening while we were relaxing on the living room floor.

*Andrew took this picture a few months ago.

At first, it was a fun adventure, pulling out our candles and peeking out of our windows at the black neighborhood. But after we found that we weren't getting cell phone service, and we didn't have an Internet connection either, I began to get kinda...nervous. It was an odd, lonely sort of feeling being disconnected from everything, sitting there in the dark. I knew that most likely, everything was going to be fine, and the power would return very soon. But what if it wasn't? Were we prepared?

We stayed distracted by curling ribbons on the Christmas presents for my students. We found that even this simple task to be frustrating though in the small glow of just a few candles. When that was finished, Andrew resorted to burning stuff, while I experimented with my camera in the unique lighting. But soon enough...we were bored. It was still too early to go to bed, so we decided instead, to take a drive.

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What a creepy sensation it was to drive by stores completely dark, still traffic lights, and cops closing up the Wal-Mart. There was an exceptionally stark contrast, because we had grown accustomed to Christmas lights twinkling on most stores and houses in town. Our first instinct was to check on the temple. Was it dark too? For some reason, the thought was unsettling. I haven't yet been able to formulate into words why that would be. However, my uneasiness about the power outage wasn't soothed, until we could look up and get a clear view of the temple still glowing on the hill. Backup generators we assume. I thought it interesting, that the entire population of Rexburg seemed to have the same idea. It took us ten whole minutes to turn left at the insignificant stop sign next to the temple. All we could see from up there were long lines of tail lights down where our little glowing city should have been.

*Also one of Andrew's pictures.

By the time we woke up for work the next morning, the power had returned and everything was back to normal. But this simple, silly experience got me reevaluating. If this had lasted for several days, or something truly serious or scary was causing it all, would we have been prepared? Also, it's kind of amazing how dependent we are on electricity for everything.

For example:

*It is the middle of winter in Rexburg, Idaho. If you weren't aware...it's cold here. Would we be able to stay warm? Would it be enough to remain bundled up in bed? We don't have a fireplace. Are there space heaters and such that don't require electricity?

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*What if we needed to buy something? The stores would be closed. If something was opened, I wouldn't be able to use my debit card, something I am heavily dependent on. I should probably have cash with me at all times just in case.

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*Would the gas stations be open? What if we needed to get somewhere far from here for safety sake? I try to keep my gas tank at least half full at all times in case of such an emergency...but if I was being honest, I've seen that little yellow warning light come on many a time before remembering to turn into the gas station.

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*As far as cooking goes, we would have been okay, because we have a little camping stove. But I found my mind going over the canned goods in our cold storage with a cringe. I couldn't bring myself to open the fridge for fear of letting the cold air out and allowing everything else to spoil over night. Plus, we were due for a shopping trip and in need of breads, milk, eggs, and boxed snacks. If the power outage had lasted another day, we may have been eating Spaghettios, croutons, and chow mien noodles for dinner. I'm being slightly facetious here, but without the help of an oven, fridge, or microwave, our options for a balanced meal were severely limited.

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*We have several candles and flashlights readily available. However, we found that this wasn't nearly enough light to read, play games, or cook for any significant amount of time. It just got frustrating. I found myself wishing we had a good lantern to light up an entire room with at once.

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* Did we have enough clean underwear and socks to last us for a week-long outage? The thought of scrubbing all our laundry by hand made me very grateful to be a woman living in the 21st century, let me tell you. Wouldn't you agree that the washing machine is a glorious invention?

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* I am most definitely not one to be labeled as a cell phone junkie. Quite honestly, I'm not a big fan at all of talking on the phone just for the sake of talking on the phone. But, being without it for an evening brought to my attention what a blessing all this technology is! We can stay connected with everyone no matter the distance. Without it, our family way out in Arizona...might as well be living in Narnia.

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Anyway, the whole thing just got me thinkin'...

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