Dependency

The first storm hit Friday, June 29^th. Lots of wind, scowling clouds and thunderous rains. Maybe half an inch of rain; some areas got closer to an inch. Then hot; steamy hot into the 90’s with humidity. Saturday was hot; higher 90’s. Then dawned Sunday; humid, sunny, hot.

After church, storms brewed to the west, storm warnings were sounded, and the skies got dark by noon. Very dark. Nearly pitch dark. The wind came in howling bursts; trees bent at first, then were twisted and tossed. The only light in the sky was green. And the rain came in torrents, hail, too.

But the winds. Sheer blasts of energy; later we were to learn wind speeds were clocked between 70 and 100 miles per hour. An hour later the rain had stopped. The sun slowly re-emerged. Temps grew to the 90’s. Rain fall was less than an inch but soaking.

The power went out at about 12:20 pm that Sunday. We weathered the storm in fine fashion: small bits of tree and shrub debris was scattered across the landscape. Nothing serious. But the power was out and stayed out. We wondered about the refrigerator, the freezer contents. But the first floor remained cool and dry. We’d be alright for several hours, until the power came back on.

But it didn’t. The house was eerily silent. No mechanicals were running. No air conditioning, of course. No lights, TV or radio. But it was full daylight. All was OK. Plenty of time to restore power.

As the day grew on we became aware of the storm’s extent. It had swept through the town to our north (West Chicago, Ill.) and decimated over 1000 trees of huge girth. The power grid was a tangle; and the damage went on through a host of western suburbs of Chicagoland. Nearly 300,000 people without power.

Our town had fewer than 1000 affected people. We were in that number.

As I write this account, it is Tuesday morning. No power. No A/C. Food in freezer and refrigerator assumed spoiled and unusable. We relocated to a  family home 8 miles distant. We dragged dogs, changes of clothes and medicines. And my oxygen and inhalator equipment. The planned relocation was for one day, possibly more depending on when the power company would eventually restore power to our neighborhood.

And so life trammeled on. Strange showers, beds and light switches(!) along with a different rhythm of meals, menus and place. Routines were kept but in different spaces. Everything off kilter while the rest of the world seemed unphased.

Strange how dependent we are on routine. And electrical power. So many things we take for granted until we don’t have them at our beck and call. Funny how that is.

Awoke to a shower that no engineer could bring life to. So cleaned up in the sink and vowed to take a shower when I reached my daughter’s home later in the morning. Grandfather duty with the girls; reading, guiding and caring for them while the parents are working and school is out. Another port in this storm of power outage.

I’ll let you know how this turns out; day by day. Should be interesting. An adventure!

July 3, 2012