Power Restored

Martha and I spent a quiet Easter here at home yesterday.  She had prepared a healthy and delicious Easter brunch - potatoes o'brien with eggs, biscuits, deviled eggs, fruit salad, and spinach squares - while it began to rain off and on, intensifying as the day went on and continuing into the evening.

The weather forecast had been accurate once again and we had taken the precaution of parking our Mini Cooper convertible under cover in Town.

In the afternoon, we made a lot of phone calls, checking on friends and loved ones.  Most of them were at home as we were and those in this part of the country were "hunkering down."  Our power went out at 2:00 a.m. or so, and there were tornado warnings all around.  Our daughter in Greenville SC said a tornado had touched down nearby and she had sheltered in her basement.

As expected, we awoke to a dark and silent house with no power and a dwindling supply of water from the community well; at least the sun was shining.  I retrieved the small propane burner from our basement, the same one that has served us well for decades (including the Blizzard of 93), and heated up water for coffee.  Martha's breakfast was a cold biscuit left over from Easter Dinner.  "A cold biscuit is not anything like a hot biscuit," she said ruefully.  A little while later, I went upstairs for a very quick low-pressure shower and declared when I came downstairs, "A cold shower is not anything like a hot shower!"  And a Stay-at-Home Order is a little easier to abide when there is power at home.

I hated to start our hand-cranked generator if the power was going to come on soon, so I went to Town to go running and assess how widespread the power outage was.  The local radio station confirmed that it was out in Town and the surrounding area and warned that it might not be restored for a long time.  I could see why - the wind was still blowing hard and there were limbs down everywhere, some of which I stopped to throw into the ditch as I was running.  (We later saw pictures on Facebook of multiple fallen trees and mudslides.)  There was some major damage on Leonard Street, and the Town crews were hard at work. These power crews are the best, and they work in the very worst conditions - rain and snow and wind.  Power rarely goes out on a calm and sunny day!

When I returned home, the house was still in darkness, and since it was almost noon we started to make some plans for lunch.  Martha suggested heating up the small pizza she had made yesterday evening on the grill.  As I was preparing to light the grill, we heard that sweet sound, a little "beep" (a clock somewhere) that always signals the return of power, and then our refrigerator began humming reassuringly.

It is always good to rediscover that we can be resourceful in difficult times, can heat up water for coffee and start a generator if we need to, can adapt in more ways than we sometimes think we can.  I was reminded of the quote about the dragonfly that I posted yesterday, how it symbolizes our ability to overcome any hardship.

We will overcome this pandemic eventually.  Our lives will never be quite the same again, but they will be restored as the power was restored today.