Although I feel like this now, last Sunday I did not feel so "blessed." In fact, I have never felt so powerless in my entire life. There was absolutely nothing I could physically do to make the power go on. It was so frustrating, especially the first few days when the reality of the damage set in, and I realized it would be 7-14 days until the power would be restored (I heard this prediction from the Governor in a press conference Monday morning, on our battery/crank emergency radio). AHHHHHHH!!!!
I learned a lot about myself this week. I saw strengths in myself that I really had no idea existed, and weaknesses that, unfortunately, I've seen in the past but were magnified.
Weak Moments:
- Complained more than I should (although I had just re-read the first part of 1 Nephi and found comfort in Sariah complaining and then repenting in chapter 5).
- LOST it with Sam on day 6 with all the other kids in the van.
- Felt sorry for myself.
- Allowed fear, discouragement and anger in my mind too many times.
- At the end of day three, Rusty wasn't home, it was dark, Sam and Molly went to bed early because they were disobedient, and I just wanted to lay down and read. Instead, I played Life with Meg and Ben, and had a BLAST. My whole perspective changed, and some of those above feelings that had entered my mind left immediately.
- Cleaned out the garage AND the van.
- Studied the scriptures (not just read them).
- Learned what kind of friend I want to be, by the example of so many amazing friends.
- Developed stronger friendships with women who I have admired for years.
- Got to know my next door neighbor REALLY well (in the early morning hours we were out starting the generator or gassing it up in our pajamas).
Monday--took the entire contents of my inside freezer, my outside deep freeze, as well as the freezer itself and plugged it into my friend's garage. It was great, because I saved my entire freezer full of food. Thanks Traci. Meanwhile, another friend watched Molly and Sam. That afternoon was just about coping. We played a ton outside since the weather was in the mid 70's, and grilled hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner. We finished up the night by watching RV on Rusty's laptop (mom and dad you HAVE to watch this show when you come; it will bring back so many memories). Rusty slept through the entire movie. He quickly adapted to "pioneer life" by going to bed with the sun every night. It got a little annoying.
Tuesday--Everyone woke up with a little sore throat (I think it's from sleeping with the windows open). We did a few chores, practiced the piano and then headed to McDonald's for Lunch. Afterward we went to the zoo for the afternoon. Again the weather was AWESOME. Around 4:00 p.m. we stopped by another friend's house to do some laundry. I thought my kids would just want to play her Wii or watch t.v. since they hadn't for a few days, but she was so sweet and played this fun board game with Ben and Meg while I folded clothes. She made us feel extremely welcome, and now my kids love to go to Sister Larsen's house and asked almost every day for the rest of the week if we could go back. On the way home to grill more hamburgers and hot dogs I realized (after a not-so-nice odor overwhelmed me in the van) that my kids hadn't showered since Saturday night. I decided to investigate our water situation. I heard that some of my friends who were without power had a gas water heater and, therefore, had as much hot water as they needed. I went downstairs and found out that we too had a gas water heater. SCORE!!! Too bad I didn't figure it out two days earlier so Rusty could have taken longer than a 30 second shower both days. After long showers and a little reading, Molly and Sam went to bed and Meg, Ben and I played games.
Wednesday--An unexpected trip to the doctor for Meg while Molly was at playgroup, and Ben and Sam went to a friend's. Meg and I went to lunch (Wendy's, her favorite) and then to Target to get a prescription filled. That afternoon we played on the tramp and made bacon, eggs and bagels and even chocolate chip cookies on the grill for dinner. Ben had a sleepover and the rest of us made smores on a fire pit at our neighbor's house. That evening we were blessed to plug into the same neighbor's generator. This will be an O'Brien must have in the future. This allowed me to quit doing daily trips to get ice for our few essential fridge items as well as gave us somewhere to charge our cell phones and portable dvd players.
Thursday--We cleaned out the garage and the van. I made it fun by making cinnamon rolls on the grill for a mid-chore break. After we headed to Costco for milk and lunch. We saw Rusty and his partner there buying office supplies. That afternoon we did a play date and then headed to drop Meg off at dance and watch Ben play a baseball game.
Friday--I was DONE!!! This was the day of my melt down, targeted at Sam. We headed to the park to meet some friends at 11:30 a.m. We were already running late and after driving for about 10 minutes Meg told me that Sam didn't have any shoes. That was the straw. After six days of no power, cooking everything over the grill, not having the luxury of washing sheets that had been peed on, no blow drying my hair, waking up in the middle of the night countless times to crickets, neighbors' generators, and motorcycles, and getting out of the van every time to open and close the garage door, I had had it. After my rant, the rest of the day was GREAT. We went to the park, had lunch, played, built forts from trees that suffered in the storm, rode scooters and cried to friends. Sometimes it just takes a good cry to make things better. One of my friends took Molly with her so Ben, Meg, Sam and I could go shoe, Halloween costume, and Web Kinz shopping. We ended up going to about five stores, but had a ton of fun. We picked Molly up, grabbed some pizza and soda, and headed to Rusty's office to play on some computers. We ended up staying for a few hours with each of us playing on a computer. Rusty was laughing that none of us really wanted to talk. We went home to the dark and went to bed.
Saturday--Rusty did a duathlon (I know, he left me in my fragile state), the kids and I went to Walmart to get a few groceries and donuts. Came home, practiced, did some chores and then played until it was time to go to Sam's baseball game. After we headed to the Blackwell's (Rusty's aunt and uncle's house, they just got power the day before). We did laundry, ate, and checked our email. Went home again after dark and put the kids to bed. We did decide that it was worth the gas in the generator to plug a few more things in. We plugged in a few lamps, and made popcorn with the air popper. It almost felt normal - almost.
Well, the week that started out hellacious ended up (in hind site) to be a fun experience that my kids and I will never forget (the week felt pretty normal to Rusty because he was at work a lot and had power there). I've decided that maybe I wasn't meant to handle every trial "perfectly" at this stage in the game. I handled this particular trial better than I thought I would. If someone would have said to me a month ago that I would have to survive almost 8 days without power, I would have told them "Are you crazy? I can't do it." Well, I did.
I was bored, especially the first day, and braided Meg and Molly's hair.
Day 3, at the Zoo
Molly loves the giraffes.
Making smores with our neighbors. Molly was holding her flashlight which, and I'm not exaggerating, got dropped at least 30 times over the week, and never broke. I picked up batteries and put the thing together every time and it would magically turn on.
One of the many "Molly poses."
Besides all the family time we got together, I was able to get my fridge REALLY clean.
