black out

Last night, I sat watching the news where they were talking about how Denver hit a new record of 103 yesterday. The smiling anchor lady was explaining how the high heat and electric consumption had caused a few power outages that day but not to worry, there were no more problems. Then WHAMMO. My power went out. I had just finished my bourbon and Coke while watching a re-run of Grey's Anatomy and was about to go to bed. My husband was out of town and my middle boy had gone to bed with a dose of IB Profen to keep his fever down. Could it be a worse time to lose power?

I went and got the flash light which was fully charged thanks to my husband's good planning. He also has an emergency kit with everything from band-aids to twine prepared in case we ever have to make a speedy getaway in the middle of the night and live off the land in the mountains for a few years (hey, you never know). I checked the breaker box and everything was fine. Some of my neighbors had power and the others I could not be sure about. Maybe they were just asleep and that's why their houses were dark. The thought crossed my mind: Was someone trying to kill me? Had they somehow cut my power in preparation of sneaking in, knowing my husband was gone that night? Thankfully the bourbon kept me calm and when I found my phone to be in working condition I figured I was safe. I called the electric company to report the outage and a reassuring female computer voice told me it would be restored by 2:30pm the following day. Screw.

I went to open the windows since usually in Colorado there is a lovely breeze or high wind at any given moment but, just my luck, the air was stagnant and warm. I had a Texas flashback and hurriedly closed the window. Hopefully the cooler indoor air would hold us a few more hours until it cooled off outside, I thought. I just knew my boy would be spiking a fever around 4am when his medicine wore off and wake up in a hot house. Things were not looking good.

I lit a candle for the boys so they wouldn't freak out if they noticed their nitelights were out, and then climbed into bed and lay there in the hot, dark, quiet night. But I couldn't sleep. My mind was picturing my mint-chocolate chip ice cream defrosting and dribbling down onto the chicken nuggets and corn dogs in the freezer. I'd just gone grocery shopping and everything was chock full of food for the next two weeks.

How on earth did people used to live without electricity? How do they still not have power in some countries? Do they know what they're missing or are they just used to it? I could rest easy, although a little uncomfortable, knowing that within a few hours I would have mine back. Without light, hot water, a refrigerator, TV and computer, you might as well shoot me.

Thankfully, the computer lady was wrong and the power was up a couple hours later. My home cooled down and we all slept well. And in the morning our frozen waffles were just fine. Once again, I'm counting my blessings.