Saturday night, 9:30pm. I’m talking to my mother on the phone, and all of a sudden the electricity goes out. Shit. It flickers on and off several times, and I use the quick flashes of light to reach for one of Alyssa’s light up toys. It features a round plastic face with a red nose that flashes while playing “Pop Goes the Weasel”. I reach for Alyssa’s hand, then guide her behind me as I grope my way towards the laundry room.
I grab the flashlight from the shelf and turn it on. Nothing. Dead batteries. Fantastic. So we make our way into the kitchen, where I fumble blindly in the cabinet for matches, as they’re on the highest shelf and tucked back in a corner (keep out of reach of children, and all that jazz). I grab hold of the matches, then feel along the counter for the candle-in-a-cup gift Daniel had set there that morning. I find it, then let go of Alyssa’s hand to strike a match and light the candle.
“Hot!”, Alyssa exclaims, and before I can stop her… pfoof. She blows the candle out. I muffle a curse, fumble again for the matches (which I had thrown back in the cabinet immediately after lighting the candle).
Now we have light. But with a toddler and two cats, I’m not taking any chances with an open flame. I get a screwdriver from the household’s junk drawer, then get the nearest battery operated toy and set to work opening it up. When I do, I roll my eyes at having picked the only C battery operated toy we have (the flashlight needs Ds). So I close it back up, then go and get Ryan’s vibrating bouncer. That things eats through batteries on an almost weekly basis, so I know there are D batteries in it.
Okay, finally, flashlight is working. Now we sit and wait. I get a book, sit Alyssa at the table with paper and crayons, and we wait. Close to 40 minutes after the power first went off, nothing. I stare at the phone longingly, wishing I could call our electric company. But we have Vonage, which goes through a high speed internet connection.
I decide to pack up the kids and go to my mom’s. Misery loves company, right? Alyssa can go to sleep there, and I can nurse Ryan and talk to my mom in the dark. And most importantly, I can call our electric company to report the outage, as my mom had surely already done, and hey, one more person calling to alert them can’t hurt, right?
Changing diapers by way of flashlight isn’t as easy as it sounds, by the way. I know all of us mothers claim that we could change a diaper blindfolded, but trust me, it isn’t that easy. We rely on our sight for those mundane chores more than you think!
Kids are changed, Alyssa is now in her footed pajamas, and we head out to the car. On the way over to my mother’s house, I decide to stop by my grandfather’s to check on him, as I wasn’t sure if he had a flashlight handy. So I pull up, turn off the car, then knock on his door. He answers – with a flashlight – and assures me he’s okay. I offer to give him a ride over to my mother’s, since that’s where I’m headed and I’d feel guilty leaving him behind to sit in the dark by himself.
We go to get in my car, and I turn it on. Er-Er-Er. What the hell? I try again. Er-Er-Er. I notice that the dashboard lights are very dim. Fuck. The battery is dying.
But oh, the fun isn’t over yet! My grandfather had left his car keys at my mother’s! So I left him and the kids sitting in my car while I trekked across a large field and up the lane to my mother’s house – in pajama pants, a thin long-sleeved top and slip on heeled shoes – and then back again with the keys. Did I mention it was about forty-five degrees out?
Finally, we get to my mother’s house. Beams of light are bobbing all over the place, and it’s a little confusing to see these bobbing lights and dodge around so many people – my mother, my grandfather, my two brothers, Alyssa, Ryan’s car seat, and three cats, but I make my way over to her phone. Just as I reach the electric company, the electricity comes back on.
Rargh.
