Thank God The Power Is Back On!

How did you hold up during the days following Hurricane Irene? If you are anything like me, you found life without electricity to be at the least, quite inconvenient, and at the most, downright aggravating! Thank God the power is back on! 

When I heard the hurricane was coming, I wasn't too concerned, initially. I did not run out to the store to stock up on bread, peanut butter, or bottled water. I remained calm and followed the weather updates with an air of nonchalance. After all, when was the last time we lost power for more than a couple of hours? Right?

It's been eons since the Blizzard of '78, and I can't remember any hurricane that has occurred during my lifetime that was anything too major, except maybe Hurricane Bob. In recent years, I have become quite lax in my emergency preparedness. My stash of flashlights is typically used by my kids for summer evening games of "Manhunt," or they sit unused for so long that the batteries start to corrode and I have to toss them out. Heck, National Grid has become so efficient at restoring the power quickly that I recently donated a pile of my good old standby Yankee Candles to Savers thinking, "Why am I hanging on to these?"

Saturday night before the storm hit, I took my kids to see the American Idol Tour concert at the Dunkin Donuts Center. During the show, I texted one of my friends to tell her that I was there and her response was "What are you doing out?! Do you know that RI is in a state of EMERGENCY???!!!"

I texted back: "Well, I guess the show must go on, hurricane or not!" Apparently, the Dunk and Idol officials didn't think it was that big a deal, because they didn't cancel the show. Afterwards, though, they did pack all the Idol performers up on the tour buses quickly and high-tailed it out of RI (foregoing the usual informal meet and greet and autographs outside the arena after the show).

Okay, when that happened, I did begin to think that perhaps there was more to Irene than I had anticipated. 

Just in case, I decided to make a late-night stop for some last-minute provisions at Stop & Shop on Atwood Ave. The place was deserted. Not that I minded that part, I liked being able to shop leisurely in an empty store. As expected, the peanut butter shelves were nearly completely clear with only a couple of store brand jars left — no Skippy for us, Stop & Shop brand would have to do! To my amazement, the bread, water, and ice were still pretty well-stocked. The day after the storm, though, it was a different story — you couldn't find a single ice cube any where you looked!

How things change! When I was growing up, we used to have big snow storms that would knock the power off for days on end. Back then, I lived in Scituate and Salty Brine would announce "No school: Scituate/Foster/Glocester!" My father was really big on being prepared at all times for whatever may befall us. We always had Coleman lanterns, a sterno stove, cans of baked beans, flashlights, and candles on hand.

As a kid, it was really fun to lose the power! It was an adventure to have the house dark at night and to change our usual habit of watching TV before bed. We actually sat around and played games, told stories, and enjoyed one another's company. Of course, as fond as those memories are, I do recall not having running water, though (because we had a well), and not being able to bathe or flush toilets for a couple of days. That part wasn't so fun.

All that being said, my family and I survived Hurricane Irene pretty much unscathed. A big tree did come crashing down in our yard, but the angels I had asked to protect us during the storm must have done their job, because it just missed sideswiping our roof! I did remember to fill the bathtub with extra water to bail into the toilets to flush them. Our food supplies were sufficient for the 24 hours that we were house bound. And, in some ways, it was nice to have all electronics off for a couple of days . . . no computer/Internet, no home phone, no cell phone service when the batteries died, and no cable. Since we are all so accustomed to being "plugged in" all the time, we did experience some symptoms of "electronics withdrawals" for a while, but on a positive note, it actually forced us to spend time together as a family — uninterrupted by phone calls, checking e-mails/Facebook, or staring at the TV. 

Of course, I always have to be philosophical about everything, so here are some of the lessons we could all learn from this storm:

Lesson #1: Remember to be grateful for the all the modern conveniences we normally enjoy on a daily basis.
Lesson #2: Be thankful for the way natural disasters have of bringing family members, neighbors and communities closer together. 
Lesson #3: Never underestimate the power of Mother Nature!
Lesson #4: Always heed the storm warnings.
Lesson #5: Go buy bread and bottled water (maybe Parmalat - not milk) in case the power goes out!