That's the Night That the Lights Went Out in My Town

Wednesday afternoon, while I was sitting at cross country, the wind shifted, cooled down a bit - from oppressive to just stifling - and the sky darkened. "Bad storm coming," everyone muttered as we waited for our kids.

My sister in law is staying by us for a while, and she and my husband, who was off work for the day, decided to order dinner out. I decided to go take 6 p.m. boxing class. I left with everyone's blessing and when I drove off,  everyone happily munching on pizza and garlic knots.

Yum.

While I was in class, the sky opened, and the storm commenced. It was a fierce, violent storm and when I left class about an hour and half later, the winds had died down but it was still raining and I could see several impressive lightening strikes. (We apparently got close to five inches of rain in just that hour.) My phone rang, and I answered it to hear that we'd lost power. My husband was on his way to pick up the generator we'd loaned the priests of our parish and he wanted to let me know that some of my people were getting a little nervous.

My kids don't do storms well. They DEFINITELY do NOT do loss of lights well. My little kids - two of whom have documented anxiety troubles - were flipping out, but the arrival of the generator, and the resultant hook up of the fridge and two lights went a long way.

Now, this is the part when I say to you, I am fully aware that this is overkill. No need to tell me that. I know it. I do not think we would have DIED without the generator. The power had only been out about an hour, and was forecast to be back by midnight. It's not bad if it's just me - I don't really mind. But my husband was trying to help calm the littlest members and, it was what it was. Different families do things in different ways, and I would have died if I was a pioneer. No question about that.

While he was hooking up the floor lamp, my cell phone rang. It was my mother, calling to tell me that her house had been broken into. As soon as I exclaimed, "WHAT?!?!?" I realized what I'd done, but by then the damage was done. My littles gathered around me, clamoring, "What happened? What's going on?" and as soon as I asked my mom if she was in the house -

the phone went dead.

I'm not gonna lie. I freaked out just a teeny bit. Horror film scenes sliced through my head, especially as I tried to return the call and wasn't able to get through. Fourth time's the charm, though, and she reported that she was not in the house, didn't know if anything was missing, and unable to leave, being that she'd dropped the keys inside the house when she saw the scattered jewelry. She was in her car, sitting outside - and when my oldest two kids heard, they got into a car and drove over immediately.

I called the police.

And then I explained to my kids, who by this time were frantic, exactly what was going on - and the most anxious of them all had a full fledged, out and out, anxiety attack. It was A BEAUT, I'm here to tell you.I worked hard to calm this child down, and as I was doing so, my husband reminded us all to be aware of the extension cords covering the floor, because he didn't want us to trip.

He had taken the shade from the floor lamp and perched it, quite high, on top of the kitchen table, in order to shine a maximum of light all over the room. He turned from his reminder, got tangled in the cord, and the light came crashing down - shattering the bulb and leaving a barefoot family stranded in the total darkness, surrounded by shards of lightbulb.

I'm so not kidding, and this story is not close to done.

Kids calmed down, floor swept up, (Hey! We really DID need to do a deep cleaning of the kitchen floor, thanks honey!), light replaced and Daddy sternly warned about his safety - and we waited for the power to return. Anxiety kiddo continued to fret and assign responsibility for every bad thing that has happened thus far directly on this child's own head.

Kids in bed. Mom awaiting a police arrival. Me happy that I didn't have to make dinner and do dishes. My sister in law going to bed. My husband messing around, killing time and repairing a bajillion little things. Blip! The power returned, a mere 4 hours after it departed. We cheered, turned off the random lights and tidied up a bit, and, hearing a large truck outside, I decided to go thank the repair men. It had been a very BAD storm indeed, there was undoubtedly a ton of damage and everyone likes to be thanked.

Except it was not the power company. It was four FIRE TRUCKS. When the power came back on, it tripped something in my neighbor's house and something caught on fire. I say "something" because they weren't home and so the fire department kicked in the door to investigate.

Can you imagine coming home to that?

100% factual and true. God as my witness.

So I went to bed to save everyone around me from any further doom.

 

Comments

[LizP]

"So I went to bed to save everyone around me from any further doom."

Sometimes we just have to make these sacrifices for the good of others! ;-)

I hope your mom and neighbors are ok!!!

[UKCraftySal]

You couldn't make that up! Give me a boring evening anytime rather than that experience!

[Iowamom]

Oh my gosh. That night probably seemed to never end! I hope everyone is ok.

[Brandy]

I don't blame you. Hope everything is better today!

[Elizabeth]

Oh my. You almost have to laugh to keep from crying.

[Beth]

Oh my goodness! What an ordeal! BTW, having a generator is not overkill. We have one because I have 3 freezers/refrigerators filled with food - the generator definitely costs less than all of that wasted food! Don't feel bad for saving money:)

[Elizabeth]

I'm sorry to laugh, but that IS the funniest thing I've read all week. My heart goes out to you, because you are living proof that we get through things, even things like this. Thanks for sharing the tough times with us.

[Sharilyn]

I'm with Elizabeth. I was laughing. But only one of those, I'm laughing otherwise I'd be crying kind of laughing. Oh mercy. What a night. Glad you are all ok. But what happened with the neighbor's house and your mom?

[Mary @ A Simple Twist of Faith]

I am sorry but I had to laugh too.
Carmen, you are a great story teller.

[addy]

Ok so you and yours have had enough excitement for the next year! Hope all is now well in your world. And no one in my house does storms well either. So far no fires though.

[Jen]

Wow!! I thought stuff like that only happened to our family! Great job telling the story.

[kyooty]

well you can't say your life was not exciting.

[Lisa]

wow!!!

[physical therapist salary]

Panic disorder is included among what mental health professionals call anxiety disorders.