This Post Brought to You By…Electricity! Or, Post-Irma Reflections
September 18, 2017
I’ve never before considered electricity a simple pleasure,
but I certainly do now. Following Hurricane Irma, which roared through Florida
Sept. 10-11, we went without power for almost four days. I’ve never been so
happy in my life when I came back from the barn last Thursday to see a light on
in my house! Since then, I’ve been grateful every time I flipped a light switch
or woke up to find coffee ready in the coffee pot.
Really, how did people live before electricity? I’ll tell
you how: they labored to produce meals and clean clothes, they lay sweating in
their beds at night (or shivering, depending on where they lived), they never
got a good look at themselves in a mirror (probably a good thing, judging by my
own appearance last week), their thoughts and energy were consumed by mere
survival.
The past two weeks have been mostly about getting ready for
a major hurricane, riding it out, and putting things back together again once
the storm was over. Because Hurricane Harvey was fresh in my mind, I took
Irma’s threat seriously, bagging ice from our icemaker and freezing water in
every available plastic container. I prepped the house for guests, since my
(divorced) in-laws would be staying with us, possibly for an extended time
depending on damage and/or power outages at their homes. I counted canned goods
and gallons of drinking water, dug out our emergency lanterns and candles, and
began a search for extra D batteries to power fans that might keep us cool
enough to sleep.
We cleared our yard of things that could become flying
missiles, my husband brought home all the computers from his office in case it
was destroyed, and I brought all my tack and tools home from the barn in case
the tack room blew away. Evacuating 20+ horses wasn’t practical for a number of
reasons, so we marked them all with some form of ID in case fence lines were
destroyed and they escaped their paddocks.
And more.
And then we waited.
By Sunday, we were huddled in front of the TV watching storm
coverage and obsessively checking Irma’s projected track. We suffered hours of
fear as the storm approached, especially after we lost power and we had a
harder time tracking it. It was terrifying lying in bed that night while the
trees groaned and the rain pattered, and we wondered whether a tornado spawned
by the storm would wipe us out, and whether Tank would be OK.
What a relief and a joy it was to wake up Monday morning to
find the house intact, and after a visit to the barn, my horse in one piece. I
think relief must qualify as a simple pleasure.
Irma wasn’t a fun adventure, but it was an adventure.
It challenged my planning skills, as well as my commitment to stay positive and
not make a bad situation worse. I had to let go of worry and projecting what
might happen. I had to believe that whatever happened we would be OK and we
would get through it. When my mind skittered ahead to wondering how long we’d
be without power, I wrestled it back to the present moment.
We were lucky. We had no damage to our home and we have our
power back. We had major clean up to do (see photos below), and lost some food
from our refrigerator and freezer. We found some holes in our hurricane
preparations that must be addressed.
This weekend while we collected debris in our yard, we also
watched butterflies flit from plant to plant. As I wrote this I heard birds
chirping and cicadas shrilling. Things look pretty much the same when I look
out the windows. But they don’t feel the same. At least for now, I hold simple
pleasures, like electricity, a bath, or light even more dear than I did before
after seeing how quickly they can disappear.
Thank you all for your prayers and good thoughts—it means
something to know that others are thinking of you when you’re facing a scary
situation.
If you want to help the people of Florida who are faced
with a much more difficult road to recovery, here are some places you can do
that:
Charity Navigator's list of charities providing assistance following Hurricane Irma
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| 41 bags, one trash can, and one tree |
6 comments
Dear Kathy - I am so glad things worked out for you and that you have your power restored. My heart goes out to others who have lost so much too. Thanks for the links. Take care friend. Hugs!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Debbie. We feel so fortunate compared with so many others. Thanks for your concern for your Florida friends!
DeleteGreat post and wrap-up of an intense experience. They say the difference between an adventure and an ordeal is attitude...I believe they are right. Despite damage and trees down, we count ourselves fortunate to have not experienced worse. My manta during those intense days was "it doesn't matter what happens, as long as we're okay, we'll be okay."
ReplyDeleteIntense...yes, that's a good way to describe it. When I started to get worried, I'd remind myself that it was unlikely that any of us would be hurt or killed, and that things are just things. We would cope with whatever the situation would bring. That said, I am so relieved that the storm weakened before it reached us.
DeleteOh, Kathy, I'm glad you are well. I especially liked your attitude, "all will be well,". Sometimes hard times force us to summon our resources and creativity...and courage...
ReplyDeleteYes, indeed. The hurricane was certainly a challenge, though it wasn't as bad for us as expected.
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