We Came Home From Vacation to No Power

My family just came home from a relatively warm and enjoyable vacation in beautiful sunny Florida. Apparently while we were away, there were many days of torrential rain leading up to a super storm that was most likely part of a tropical storm. 

My flight was supposed to get into T.F. Green Airport at 10:05pm and we didn’t land until 2:30am. Five-plus hours of sitting in an airport can be absolutely exhausting and a terrible way to end a vacation. Or so I thought.

But I was wrong. Coming home at almost 4am to no power is a terrible way to end a vacation. No power means no stove since we have electric and no toilets or running water since we are on a well. I hoped we could get our power back on quickly.

Survival Mode

The girls managed to sleep in until 9:30am. Thankfully I got a little over four hours sleep. They both woke up quite hungry. I scrambled to get us all dressed. Thanked the Lord that we had been vacationing in a different season; otherwise, we would have slim pickings for clothes.

Going to the store was like another world. Apart from being out of ice, there was no evidence of any storm. Unlike our winter nor’easters, milk was still available; no shelves were wiped out. It felt like everyone had their lives back together and their power back on. I found ice at a gas station and put together a cooler with milk and toddler snacks.

I came home and checked the outage map. It would potentially be days before the power came back on. It was time to get more ice and see if I could save anything else from the fridge. I thanked the Lord for the massive cooler we just got on clearance last month that my husband wasn’t sure if we would ever use.

My friends began to realize that I didn’t have power or a generator. The help began pouring in. One friend offered up freezer space, another offered us a bed to sleep in, another offered to let us hang out. This made me thankful for the village that was part of my life. Everyone needs a village. If you don’t have one, please start making connections. There are so many chances to build this village with play groups, story times, and church, to name a few.

Unfortunately, my family was too stubborn to leave our house, so as the temperature dropped to 33 degrees overnight, we hunkered together for a slumber party. After that experience, they changed their minds. As I write this, my house is 54 degrees and we are about to go to a friend’s house for warmth and all those other fine modern conveniences.

Thankfulness

I just kept hoping every time I left the house and came back that the power would be back on. I do not feel bitter about the no power; it made me have a different perspective. It made me think about the people that just went through the devastation of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria and had to leave their homes. How so many of those people were left with nothing. And how so many of them are still without power or access to safe drinking water.

I know that our experience with our power outage was nothing in comparison. It made me think of people that live in other countries without power, let alone a car or a store to shop at. It also didn’t compare to the family I knew that had trees fall in their driveway and ruined all their cars. Overall, despite my annoyance and complaints over the inconvenience of the situation, this experience has made me thankful for what we do have.