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Thursday, August 22, 2013

Stolen Moments

Last night I got home and I was in one foul ass mood.  I had been hot all day and just couldn't cool down.  Sweaty, sticky fat lady hot.  It was gross.  All I wanted to do was go home, put on some natural fibers, lay on my bed under my ceiling fan (turned on high) and regroup.

At 6:30 pm the power went out.  Some dumb ass animal thought they could rewire the town and is now climbing trees or digging holes in heaven.

At first I thought it was a circuit so Brian went to the garage to try and reset it.  Nope.  Whole neighborhood was out.  The hubs called the power company to report the outage.  ETA...10:00 pm.

Did I mention I was hot?

So I threw a tantrum.  And dropped a few f-bombs.  And pouted.  I may have even stomped my feet.  I wanted HGTV.  I wanted light.  I wanted AIR CONDITIONING.

That's when the magic happened.  You know that feeling that happens after a disaster?  That feeling of community that takes over and people come together without thought for themselves to solve the problem?  My little temper tantrum brought my men out in force.  Brian tried to figure out how to get the generator going so he could put a fan on me.  When that didn't work he went up to the local convenience store and bought me a very large diet Pepsi (I love fountain sodas over ice).  Matthew turned on his charm and began to tease me out of my fit and William just engaged me in a deep conversation about his day (which I'm always up for).

As it began to get dark, we didn't retreat to our respective "zones".  We sat in the family room, with phones and surfaces and flashlights reading things off the Internet, playing music, telling stories and laughing.  We all expressed how nice it was (except the hubs...he was very quiet for some reason - but he did get up and push the ceiling fan from time to time to at least move the air...it was great), and at one point Brian said, "You know, as soon as the power comes on we're going to scatter like ants." 

And I replied, "Just enjoy the moment and don't worry about later."  See!  I have grown!

At 9:30 the power came on and we did indeed scatter like ants.  Everyone had school or work the next day so we had to get things done.  But, as I lay my head to on my pillow, I thought about how wonderful the evening had been and how, if I had still been drinking, awful it would have been.

  • I would have been even more sweaty because alcohol always heated me up.
  • I probably would have said something inappropriate at some point or picked a fight.
  • Eventually they would have retreated rather than listen to a drunk blather on and on about inconsequential things.
  • At that point I would have been left with the hubs who would have had to endure my maudlin discussion about the kids all being in college and where did the time go and boo hoo hoo I'm getting old.  (I mean...we have these conversations now but doing it with a drunk is just unbearable.  Honestly, I used to get on my own nerves when I got like that!)
  • And worst of all, I would have missed the magic of that moment in time because it would have been all about me.  I would have missed the beauty of a family that, at a time like that, would rather be with each other than anywhere else in the world.  I mean, Brian's girlfriend had power.  Matt and Will's friends all had power.  They have cars.  You do the math.

Before I fell asleep, I thanked God for the gift of this evening and the blessing of this family.  Of course the sick part of my brain tried to ruin it with what I call my 'Headlines', "Mother of six killed in car accident on the way to work.  Kids say power outage was a gift." and shit like that.  But I told said brain to leave me alone and let me enjoy my life.  And then I asked God to tell her to shut the fuck up.  I don't know if God drops the f-bomb but I'm sure He gets His point across.

And then I prayed for the poor little animal that had to sacrifice its life so I could have that stolen moment.

Namaste

5 comments:

  1. Gave me goosebumps. I am sure going to cherish those moments too ....the once I would have missed if I had been drinking. It already has begun and I'm only 7 days in! This life is crazy!!!
    Happy Day!!
    Jen

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  2. Such a wonderful and heartwarming story! You gave my spirit a great boost, thanks and big hugs to you!

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  3. I love power cuts; no tv, just candles and sometimes the guitar . . . I'm always slightly disappointed when the electric comes back on. How did you keep the internet on?
    It's good how quickly things can change for the better x

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  4. I love power outages too. We play flashlight tag all through our three level house. LOL Quite the event! Your men all sound so sweet.

    Glad you had that special time. :o)

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  5. Great post - the feeling of pulling together in adversity is something we don't have enough of. Good list of things to be grateful for out of it all

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