Fiat Lux

My eyes popped open at 1:04 a.m. There was a bright light shining in the kitchen and street lights shining in my eyes.

The power was back on!!!!!

After more than 40 hours without power, the electricity was once again on.

I was very disappointed when I woke up yesterday morning and discovered the power still off. I had such high hopes after our dinner at Noodle City...

...and my session at Mishka's Cafe, writing a journal entry...

...that we would get up on Saturday morning and there would be power. But no. At least we had purchased ground French Roast coffee at Mishka's and I could heat water on top of the stove and use my French press to make coffee.

I even washed my hair. I discovered we still had some warm water, so wet and lathered my hair in the sink using the warm water, rinsed it first with cold water and then with water I had warmed on the stove. I was coping.

Jeri and Phil (who had wisely spent the night at Ned & Marta's) , kept sending text messages -- "power?" and I would just scoff. I spent the afternoon reading and napping, when the skies were too dark to read.

Finally Jeri & Phil came, packed their stuff into our car, and we drove them to Oakland to the airport, stopping en route for dinner at a food mart.

(Lamb curry for us, noodle soup for them)

That killed a couple of hours, but it was disheartening to return home at 10:30 and discover the power still out. We had been listening to the radio and hearing that some places might not have power until the middle of next week.

It was too late to go to Mishka's, which closed at 11 p.m., so I decided I would run down there first thing in the morning and get an entry posted. It was very cold in the house, so I bundled up in my heavy coat, socks, and an extra blanket and went to sleep, until the lights came on at 1:04. The blackout is over.

The experience gave me a whole new appreciation for people like Katrina victims, trapped in homes throughout the night, cut off from all information (the information blackout was the worst, I think, until Walt found the battery-operated radio), water rising, not knowing when (or if) anybody was going to come for help or, like Susan wrote in her comment on yesterday's entry the months (years?) of dealing with problems following the initial crisis.

Or, as Jeri pointed out to me this evening, I didn't have to deal with trying to save children from bullets or wondering when soldiers were going to break down my door. I just had to worry about whether there was going to be an empty chair at Mishka's.

As emergencies go, this was pretty minor. It was an inconvenience not to have power and a worry that it was going to continue long enough to cause food to begin spoiling and that sort of thing, but all in all, 40 hrs without power is definitely just a raspberry seed in the wisdom tooth of life.

But I'm glad it's over!