It was a dark and stormy night ...

The power went out the other night, and this became an Event. I'm not sure why. Do you know why? Does life really change that much? No, no it doesn't, but it could. What if you need the microwave for emergency oatmeal? What if you ... uh ... You know, the oatmeal is all I can come up with.

Out it was for two hours Monday evening. I was momentarily baffled till the really-no-difference realization. Couldn't use my computer, but that could be taken as a good thing, a very very good thing. All I really wanted to do that night was read The Children's Hospital anyway. Sometimes you get what you wish for.

Two and a half years, 1,200 miles and three hurricanes ago, I was well-prepared for a power outage. (Make that two hurricanes ago; Lessons were Learned from Charley.) But my preparations got discombobulated in the northerly directioning, so there was some befuddlement and reconnoitering.

I rediscovered batteries and an extra flashlight, reinstalled in a lantern some batteries lost in the hamper, sat by the back door with the book and waited for the fireflies to come out. A little after 10 I was on the floor enjoying the dark and the fireflies when tiredness started to hit. As I said "Time for bed!" and stood up, the lights came back on with a screech.

(The screech actually came from those kitty-frighteners, the carbon monoxide detectors: HEY WE'RE ON AGAIN. So is every neuron in my brain now, MERCI BEAUCOUP.)

And then, I was disappointed. Without the lights and other electrimugification, it was Something. It was Interesting. It was a Change, Different. Now everything was the same again. I didn't even want to go to bed while it was out. I would be missing it.