Monday, February 16, 2009

At Last! Sing it Etta!

It finally happened, late on day 18. We got electricity. Shortly after I posted the Friday entry, Teen Angel sent me a text that simply said, “The pole fairy came and left us a present”. I asked if the darn pole fairy finished the job or gave us the shaft. “Good news”, Teen Angel said. The lights were on, TA did a little dance in the street and Hubby almost kissed a lineman from North Carolina. Mama J. quickly went about washing some clothes because she gets jittery if she has more than three dirty socks at a time, and Papa T. turned on his first book on tape in nearly three weeks. Ah. All was right with the world according to Teen Angel. I couldn’t wait to get home.

I really didn’t let myself believe it was true until I pulled in the driveway, flung open the car door and listened carefully for….silence. Blissful, delicious silence. No generator humming its tired old song at decibels higher than the speakers at a Metallica concert. No mechanical roar overpowering the song of the winter birds. Just wonderful, peaceful silence. The motion light over the garage splattered me with light as I walked inside. I giggled out loud. Indoors, the Hula-gen’s were washing clothes, picking up around the house and making all kinds of attempts to clear away the cluttered mess we had allowed to build during the power outage because we simply didn’t care enough to keep the house clean in the midst of all the ice, mud and self pity we were wallowing in. We were so joyous I had to laugh at us. Nothing could bring us down. We were wasteful with our energy for sure, flipping on lights every chance we got and firing up everything from the vacuum cleaner to the stove. I would have sat in the hot tub if the chemicals hadn’t been so out of balance from sitting motionless for three weeks. It was amazing how something so simple made our lives so much better in a matter of minutes.

Ironically, we had a small setback Saturday. We went to the mall Saturday because the only places I had been in three weeks had been home, work and a visit to church. I felt so out of touch. I needed to see people other than family and coworkers. I scored $400 worth of clothes for $32. Sweet! And we headed home. Only to find that our power had gone out AGAIN. Now, working for a power company, I knew this was a possibility since the restoration process can be a little bumpy, but I had blissfully blocked this piece of knowledge from my pea brain and allowed us to leave the house Saturday without a door key. Anyone know to spell “dumb ass”? H-U-L-A. With the little keypad on our garage deader than Jimmy Hendrix, we were locked out of our house. We soon discovered that linemen were working in the back part of our subdivision and had basically turned us off during their work, with the promise of having everybody back on in about forty five minutes. We killed the time by driving around nearby subdivisions, looking for houses for sale…that are fed underground. An hour later we were home, snuggled into our jammies with iced tea and popcorn. I had a good book in my lap and Hubby was tuned into TruTV for multiple episodes of Cops. Ah, all was right with the world.

14 comments:

Mike Golch said...

glad that the power is back on.

Lew Jetton said...

I heard your weekend was electrifying!

Amy said...

Yay!:) I am SO happy for you and your family. Enjoy yourself soaking up all of that delicious electricity!:)

God Bless,
Amy:)

Jan said...

Pole Fairy, I love it. Glad you all survived.

Jason, as himself said...

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Ha-lay-ay-you-yah!!!

oreneta said...

Yahooooooo!!!!!!!!!!

I love that you looked for houses with underground power feeds. When you do get around to buying a new place, if you do, you are going to make that real estate agent look at his listings all sideways!

A New England Life said...

Thank goodness! Congratulations and welcome back to the real world : )

Hope you have enjoyed several long hot showers!

The Girl Next Door said...

Pole fairy indeed - kids are hilarious! Glad things are getting back to "normal" for you all.

Mia said...

well ZIP-PA-DEE-DOO-DA!! Hooray for the Hula's!!
Go blend something if you know what I mean : )

Kelley with Amy's Angels said...

WHAT?!? $400 worth of clothing for $32? Now, that's my kind of shopping.

And of COURSE I'm happy that your electricity is back on! WHOO!!

Jan n Jer said...

So happy the Pole Fairy paid you a visit. Welcome back to comfort. Life is good!

janjanmom said...

I saw dem power trucks on your road on the way to my mom's Friday and I smiled knowing it was gonna happen for ya.

Welcome back to ELECTRICITY!! Something we won't take for granted for at least a few days.

Trailboss said...

I am so glad it finally came back on. I think we all, literally, did a dance when we got power back. We have undergrown lines to our house but they are fed from the lines on the main highway that are above ground. hehe We also had the power out again but it was only for about 30 minutes.

I so appreciate having what we take so granted at my fingertips again. When it first came on I had to walk around the house and just look. Just stood there and looked. It seems so silly now but that is what I did. I somehow don't feel that I am alone on that one.

J.G. said...

HALLELUJAH on your behalf. In Fla. post-hurricane we all say, "Have you hugged your lineman today?"