Our Heart's Journey

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Their First Power Outage

Sorry - there will be no pics accompanying this post because I was way to busy and too "in the dark" to snap any.

However, I just wanted to record it for the boys! ;-)

The scenario: The boys and I were sitting on the couch one evening eating chicken fingers and a salad. It was around 7ish and I had just gotten home from my new job (The new job is great! More pay and flex hours. Still part-time, but the last few weeks have netted some very long days as I am still very much in the "learning" phase of new job.)

So, I should say I was scarfing down my dinner and letting the boys eat in front of the TV b/c it was so late and I, at least, was so hungry! We were watching their favorite show, Backyardigans on the DVR.

All of this is basically just background information to add emphasis to the following statement: I had NO IDEA, no IDEA that a major frickin' storm was on the way!

(Luckily) Nonnie had just walked in the house to drop off some items. We were visiting and chatting and then it started raining. Then. It got a little windy. Then it got really windy. And really raining.

Then.

All the lights went out.

And there we were. Sitting on the couch. With TV trays and dinners. Two dogs (scrambling for the food in the ongoing chaos). And two boys who, we already knew did not like darkness!

Thank God, Nonnie was there!! Her job quickly became "be the anchor and hold onto the kids."

My job - to find a flashlight. Nay - to find a working flashlight! Those that know me well, know that thanks to my Dad and a certain aunt - I personally own 9,746 flashlights - book lights, camping lanterns, heavy duty parking flashlights, pocket flashlights, keychain flashlights. Apparently my father and his sister's motto was "never be caught in the dark!"

And thanks to my "never throw anything away hubby, we also own about 9,532 batteries: watch batteries, Triple A batteries, rechargeable batteries and 3 battery testers.

Okay, back to the scene: lights out. Food now being picked up by the dogs. Children somewhat "secure" wrapped around Nonnie's face and head, chanting, "Don't like no lights. Don't like no lights."

It was still dusk and I had a little bit of outside light to help me navigate towards Flashlight Storing Place Number 1 - Kitchen. No flashlights found (even those "plug in the walls ready for a storm flashlights" that I know we own TWO of!). Okay, up the stairs to Flashing Storing Place Number 2 - the laundry room. Three flashlights found. Two don't work, one works enough that I can just barely see the actual light bulb. Other than that, it's useless. Move on to all three bedrooms - and net 4 more flashlights - not a one of them workin'.

While upstairs, I look out the window and see all of the trees in my front yard are now touching the ground. The rain and the wind are coming down in sheets. Correct that - that would be rocks. Hail, that is. I have actually never seen hail. This particular hail was a about the size of a marbles. And it covered the yard like snow! Seriously, I would have snapped a picture if I could have found the camera.

I check on Nonnie and tell her, really, really - I'll be right there with a flashlight. Back to the kitchen. I now have two candles. Search the cabinets in the dark for matches. The matches we put up really high and in the back so the twins wouldn't find them. Turns out, neither can I! I am now using my cell phone as a light as the darkness has settled in more.

I'll skip the next blow by blow of the following 10 minutes, but in short - I gathered 9,405 of our flashlights (from various parts of the garage and the house). I also gathered about 4,987 of our batteries and remarkably all three of the battery testers. My kitchen table looked like a hardware store that had come upon hard times...

...because I kid you not, NONE of the batteries made ANY of the flashlights work!! Well, okay we got about 3 barely workin' illuminating light not farther than 5 inches away.

Candles! In my pre-twins' days I was known as quite the candle lighter (perhaps a rebelliousness linked to my overly cautious father and aunt?). So - another 10 minutes I had candles streaked throughout the house with the two matches that I found up in the cabinet thanks to the handy dandy cell phone light.

We have a few minutes of fun as we watch the "snow" on the front yard. And then, it's back to survival mode as Armageddon sets in. Literally the thunder is so LOUD and the lightning is so bright it's like bombs going off all around us. (And just so you know, my neighborhood did loose about 5 trees near us - either struck by lightning or wind damage.)

Austin and Logans' mantra now becomes "Stop the boom-booms!!"

Nonnie steps in explains that the thunder is just God having a good ole game of bowling.

"MommEEEEEEEEEEEEe - MAKE God STOP playing bowling!! NOW!!!!!!!"

So - Nonnie and I sat on the couch surrounded by candlelight and reprimanding God for playing bowling.

And just to give a shoutout to Hubby who comes home hours later after making sure the restaurant is secure (insert huff) and after disregarding the country of Yemen's supply of non-workin' flashlights on my counter says, "Okay, next time during a storm Donna, you're gonna want to make sure that the garage door has towels in front of it to prevent the water seeping in, because we took on a little water on the garage floor." Gee, thanks hubby. What would I ever do without you!!