[ UPDATE: I wrote this post in the morning and then couldn’t get it published till the afternoon, and right after I published it I got the good news that power has been restored! LET THERE BE LIGHT! Such a relief. I’m truly so grateful. All I want to do now is laundry. Hah! ]
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Hey there. If you have some happy thoughts or a prayer or some good vibes you can send my way, I would very much appreciate it. Today’s day number five of no electricity at my house, and I’m having a rough time of keeping a good attitude.
The reason we don’t have electricity is that two of our neighbor’s trees fell down (heavy rains after a long drought have lots of Oak trees falling around the city), and ripped out our weatherhead (the metal rod on the house that the power connects to), which in turn left a big hole in the exterior wall. PG&E (our electric company) came to take a look and had to cut the line completely.
The tricky thing is that I head to Palm Springs for Alt Summit day after tomorrow. Which means this loss of power coincided with the major crunch time before the event. It also coincided with the trip to the emergency room that I mentioned (nothing major, but a very mangled and broken finger for Olive — I still owe you the story), and Betty having a bad cold and not being able to attend school.
It would have been a rough week of last-minute conference changes and deadlines anyway, but having no power has made things especially hard to manage. Should I go and work at a café or wait for PG&E at the house? Would under-the-weather Betty be more comfortable at home without power or at a hotel? Will power get restored today or do we need to find a place to stay tonight? Should I hit the laundromat or wait until we get electricity restored? I’m going a bit bonkers with uncertainty.
I appreciate your patience and kind words as I’ve been out of commission. I confess, I’m embarrassed about how emotionally needy I am at moment. I’m being such a complainer! Sorry about that. The good news is: I do have a home tour for you! I’ll work on that next.
P.S. — Powerful words by Amy Turn Sharp. When I’ve felt like I’m losing my mind this week, I’ve been so grateful for your comments. I feel very lucky that the Design Mom community is filled with powerful women.
Anya
March 20, 2019 at 9:16 pmHang in there— what a rough time. About eight years ago, my dad died suddenly, our phone and internet service cut out right when we were planning the funerals for here in the US and back in his native Ireland, and on the night before we had to leave for the airport at 5 a.m., the youngest grandchild, my 5-year-old, split his scalp down the back and wound up in the ER until 1:30 a.m. getting staples put in. So I sort of get it. I’d insert a cringing emoji here if I could.
Wendy
March 20, 2019 at 9:21 pmOh man, I feel your pain. I live in a small rural community in the foothills outside of Sacramento and power outages are so common up here that a lot of the neighbors have generators on hand to power refrigerators, etc. when the power goes out. Others even have them hard-wired, which as I understand it means they can just flip a switch and have power! We don’t have a generator and before we retired recently, we were not above getting a hotel room to make life easier. (Really the big issue for us is that we’re on a septic system that requires an electric pump. No electricity=no flushing.) I say go for a hotel room and be sure the hotel has a laundry facility. Here’s hoping your power came on before you finished reading this long comment!
Sandra
March 20, 2019 at 10:59 pmCurse you Mercury Retrograde! Honestly, I never think much about it, but my cousin told me to blame my wacko printer problems on it and I was happy to blame anything that was beyond user error.
Some days are just the pits. Feel all the feelings and then just make decisions and go with it. Love to you- that’s a lot of things and see you in Palm Springs soon.
CC
March 20, 2019 at 11:57 pmWowza, that’s a lot! As a Miami resident for more than 50 years I’ve been through lots of hurricane related power outages, some going on for weeks. Hotel, hotel, hotel …. always the right answer. Amazing what a hot shower, clean sheets and hot coffee can do for ones general sense of well-being. 💗
Lisa
March 21, 2019 at 12:19 amUgh, sorry to hear all that had been going on. Hopefully the challenges of the past few days mean that the coming days will be smooth sailing! Can’t wait for the Alt Summit updates.
Madame
March 21, 2019 at 3:23 amTwenty years ago when I was living in the Luberon, a massive snow storm knocked out power in our area for well over a week. We had a well (with a pump)to get water, which meant I couldn’t even do dishes, or flush toilets! It was over CHRISTMAS Break, so we had three children at home. The first two days were kind of fun for the kids… Candles! Oh man after a a few days, we threw in the towel and went to stay at my sister in law’s holiday home which had generators, (because it was so isolated).It is crazy how tough it is to get by with out electricity, and running water… hang in there! Hotel is for sure what I would do…
Julie Schoelzel
March 21, 2019 at 5:57 amOh my goodness I am so happy to read these words only because I know you are ok. You are definitely grossly over taxed at the moment but you are ok!!!! I will keep you and your family in my thoughts. I lost power once for 10 days. We were pretty much feral by the end of it. Plus my husband said we couldn’t use the toilets because they wouldn’t flush so we had to plan activities in public accordingly. On the last day I absentmindedly used our bathroom and flushed… and everything worked fine. His “oh I guess it’s different in this house” did not help. We lived in a small town and I had to do my business in all my favorite tiny coffee shops and cafes. We moved. 😁
Aliesha
March 21, 2019 at 7:26 amSo glad the power came back on, and NO NEED to apologize. That sounds overwhelming at a minimum…and enough to send me over the edge into a tailspin at worst.
This too shall pass….this too shall pass…
Reem Faruqi
March 21, 2019 at 7:36 amI’m glad you got your power Back!!
Anita
March 21, 2019 at 7:37 amOh Gabby, I’m so sorry for everything you’re going through, and I’m so glad you got your power back! What a rough time! You’re allowed to be emotional!
Betsy
March 21, 2019 at 9:50 amSo glad the power is back on and hoping that things are back to “normal” soon. Decision fatigue on top of all of the curveballs is over the top. Sending good vibes and peaceful thoughts your way!
Heidi
March 21, 2019 at 3:08 pmOh girl-COMPLAIN AWAY. That all sucks. Full stop. I know everything will be right-side-up soon enough, and you’ll find your equilibrium, but right now, don’t apologize for feeling like things are overwhelming. Soon enough, it will be a crazy family story. Until then, do whatever feels right in the moment. Best wishes!
Jeanne
March 21, 2019 at 5:58 pmOh man, you have so much on your plate. FIVE days?!! Don’t ever apologize about complaining. It’s seriously justified. And really, sometimes it just feels better just to let it out. Somehow it emotionally weighs less afterward. Good luck with everything!!
Sarah
March 21, 2019 at 9:10 pmWe went through a 5-day power outage, along with a large portion of our city (major windstorm) a few years ago and it was incredibly stressful and demoralizing at points! My husband and I both struggling to finish work and meet deadlines without power, a freezing cold house in November, small children who needed to be entertained, etc. etc. The peak was four days in when my two-year-old starting throwing up at 4 a.m. Because of the cold there was a crazy amount of bedding around her, all of it disgusting. I’ve never missed my coffee pot or washing machine more. :) Now though I mostly think of even that as a tragicomic story, and I love some of what we did during those days, like start listening to Christmas music crazy early via our hand-crank radio. So glad to read the update that your power is back on!