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RECENTLY I was sent back to the Dark Ages for several days and have only just returned to modern times. A powerful storm came blowing through our area last week, taking away our electricity, our hot water and finally our dignity. I learned a few important lessons:
1. Reading by candlelight is a drag.
2. Cooking by candlelight is even worse.
3. Cold showers suck.
4. A widespread power outage is the best way to get chummy with your neighbors.
5. Three days with no TV and no Internet is good for the soul.
6. Lack of electricity causes an increase in candy consumption and a decrease in personal hygiene.
7. We might need to get a generator.
The last item on that list is fraught with indecision. On the one hand, if we had a back-up generator we could continue living our normal lives despite the harsh winds blowing down all the trees that land on the power lines in the area, exiling us to Siberia. We could stay current on the latest political claptrap, like Hawaii’s congresswoman and presidential hopeful Tulsi Gabbard is a Russian spy. On the other hand, we would lose all connection to our ancestors who toiled in the darkness for hundreds of years, cooking potato soup in big pots over a wood fire and having their teeth pulled without benefit of anesthesia.
It’s a tough choice. But the clearest benefit of remaining at the whim of the weather gods is the feeling you get when the power suddenly jolts back without warning, making the simple act of grinding coffee for a fresh pot a kind of joy rarely experienced outside of childbirth.
—Andrea Rouda
Andrea Rouda blogs at The Daily Droid.
