Day 29—The World in Slo Mo

When I got home the power was out. Right in the middle of making supper. So we fired up the gas grill, sliced up the potatoes and meat, and threw on the whole supper. I even toasted my frozen bagel on it. It tasted a little smoky, but I loved it—it felt like we were on an early spring camping trip. So did the rest of the evening.

It’s funny. Bit by bit the world slowed way down. We went out to the porch where the sunlight was brightest so that we could read. After a while we began to notice how quiet it was—no phones ringing, no internet to plug into and check emails, no TV (no great loss there), no power for my music, no washing machine sound. Just quietness, a setting sun, and the sound of the trees rustling in the breeze.

Darkness crept in, little by little, until it was finally too dark to read. We looked out and saw little burning candles in the windows of our neighbor’s houses. Quaint. Just like Christmas but without the snow. Just as I was preparing to fire up the camping lantern the lights came back on. Too bad, I thought. “What a nice little respite that was, God.”

Even though we weren’t running around frantic today, we were idling a lot faster than I realized, because as soon as the power went out, our body-engines began to slow down almost as fast as the little motors that run all our appliances. We both really welcomed the forced time-out. So now I’m in the planning stage of trying to figure out how to knock that pole out every evening around 6:00ish. (Without getting caught, of course.)