I was one of some 245,000 people without power in Metro Detroit after last Friday’s storm came through the Midwest. The power outage reminded me of what I take for granted. Electricity is such a natural part of our lives now. It’s become easy not to give it a second thought until you suddenly find yourself without it. After full three days without power here are my thoughts.
Habits Can Be Hard To Overcome
How many times did I walk into a room and automatically flip a light switch? My hand went to the switch even though I knew the power wasn’t working. In one particular instance I was walking into a room to get candles because the power was out and still I tried to turn the light on!
Lack Of Power Potentially Affects More Than We Realize
Almost everyday I have a plate full of vegetables for lunch. I love a variety of vegetables like carrots, bell peppers, cucumber, sugar snap peas, broccoli and zucchini. Initially during the power outage, we tried not to open the fridge so it would stay cold. It helped that we had plans to be out during several meals. Later, when it got to either moving the food or throwing it out, it went to my aunt’s, who had not lost power. When the power finally did come back on and I had an almost empty fridge and freezer, it made sense to wash them out before retrieving my bags from my aunts. All that to say, it was two days after the power came back on that I had food again in the house. And when I finally got my plate of vegetables after 5 days without, they sure tasted good!
Other Options
Power is so integral to our lives we may forget there are options when it goes out. Our small group was scheduled to meet Sunday evening. By then we’d been almost two days without power. We couldn’t easily serve refreshments and once it got dark, we’d have to rely on candles for light. We decided to cancel the meeting. Only later did it occur to me that it has scarcely been 100 years since electricity became commonplace. For countless centuries before that, when it got dark, there were limited options. Primary among those options were candles.
I love a quiet house. I rarely have a radio on and don’t understand the concept of having a TV on for background noise. The sound of things running – in particular, the fridge and dehumidifier – disrupt my quiet environment and I periodically notice with pleasure that they have turned off. The last few days have been a different story. The hum of the fridge running has been a sweet sound that I appreciate far more than I did a week ago. At some point I will probably return to totally taking electricity for granted. For now, I love seeing the light go one when I flip a switch!