The Great Thing About Power Outages

After Charley's visit to Florida, many people were left without power, water and worse, some were left without a home. Fortunately, the homes of Michael's sisters in Florida had but a few things in need of repair, like parts of the roof and the fences. However, as with many others, they were left without electricity, water and telephone for a week. Food was either off a can or grilled. As for personal hygiene, it had to be done the French way, "faire la toilette" which is great when you have a limited amount of water. With schools and workplaces closed and a curfew of 8:00 pm enforced, the families spent the kind of quality time that can be had only in times such as this.

Despite the inconvenience of power outages, I have found myself remembering all my experiences of it in a very fond way. I loved the way the moon lights up the night, indoors are only lit by lamps and candles and how quiet it gets. Only human voices and animal sounds can be heard breaking the silence. With a setting like this, people have no choice but to gather around the light and tell stories or play games. And out of this time come the most interesting stories, the funniest jokes and the most heartfelt conversations. It can become a very special moment.

The people of old passed down oral history from one generation to another. Gathering around the fire was a nightly ritual which strengthened bonds between the elders and the children and established strong relationships between people. Our generation is a very distracted one with all the gadgetry available, with still newer ones that come out everyday. Televisions, VCRs, stereos, MP3 players, computers, Playstations, etc., it's sensory overload! The only way one gets to enjoy this now is when groups go camping or when an act of God leaves us with no electricity. And even then, sometimes people fail to see the chance to enjoy the gift of a time like this.