Help! Love, MOM

Blessings to all!

After an unintended, unplanned blogging break, (Oprah voice) I’m baaaaaack.

A main reason for my hiatus was that my work life got super hectic. For example, lately I have felt the need to work late to help the students get programmed for and settled into summer school.

For context, the last day of school for New York City kids is near the very end of June.

I know – OUCH.

I work with an amazing team of folks. We shared many of the tasks required. However, my part of that job needed more time than the school day allowed, so I stayed a little later than I normally do.

Walk with me, please. I promise I’m going somewhere.

This was one of the first days that I left work late and also happened to be one of the hottest in NYC in a while.

In my head after work, I was going to bathe, eat, and work on my blog. After arriving on my block, I greeted and spoke briefly with a neighbor.

But when I entered my home at about 5 pm, I observed that the stove appeared to be off.

If you’ve ever had electrical work done, and you have older appliances, you may have needed to reset them when power is turned back on.

But since I had not been at home, nor had any electrical work done, I was confused. Why is the stove off? After observing other odd indicators, I realized that, for real, the power was off.

First, I had to control my urge to panic.

It’s in these moments one understands the obvious. One, my first-world life, and yours, runs on electricity, which is mostly supplied by our local electric companies and not by renewable sources like solar and wind.

I also realized that I like my generally nice and orderly life. The power outage was an unwelcome disruption.

In this order I:

• Sat on my steps, because I was less likely to fall apart with something stable under me, and reported the outage;
• Thanked God that I had charged my phone before I left work, something I don’t usually do;
• Doubted but hoped that the electric company would do something for me quickly;
• Checked in with my neighbors about what might be going on with them. They were out of power, too.

Later, when we talked about it, my neighbor said that, when she left her house, everything was perfectly fine. She also told me that after she walked away from our discussion, she received frantic phone calls from her children wondering what to do about their suddenly dead, plugged-in devices.

Up and down our block and those surrounding, additional neighbors discovered the reality of the power outage.

And, while a major inconvenience, it was not the horror it could have been due to the Lord’s kindness in having some minor degree of emergency preparedness in place.

However, I also realized I really needed to get my emergency preparedness act together.

What I Had on Hand

• A FRIEND willing to help

A couple of friends knew about the power outage. One offered to help. To be fair, I didn’t ask specifically for anything; I just called venting about my situation. BUT I thought the circumstance was so unusual that an open door would be automatically offered.

The lesson I learned is, if you have a need, ASK.

• Flashlights

When the lights went out, I needed reliable illumination. I routinely keep flashlights alllllll around my home.

The ones I own were purchased from my local home supply store. You may want to invest in high-quality flashlights and ensure you have extra batteries. LED flashlights are long-lasting and energy-efficient.

Prices range from $10 to $50, depending on the brand and features. I bought several 3 packs of Defiant brand flashlights for about 20ish bucks and they’ve proven to be long lasting.

• Water

I had one full case and an opened case of bottled water. While I was glad to have water available, I still felt very vulnerable to needing more. I was hot and thirsty and hesitant to drink more water than absolutely necessary.

Again, for context, it was just a local area in the dark. I could WALK — not even drive –right up the street in just about any direction and purchase anything I wanted or needed. Still, I felt amazingly exposed and unprepared for the outage.

Afterward, I read an article where the author advised that on every grocery trip to buy some water specifically designated for emergency use only. I have started to do that.

• Ice Packs

I own a few hot/cold packs. Mine live in the freezer to keep track of them. They definitely came in handy. I also made it a point to keep the refrigerator and freezer doors closed that night.

Next blog, I’ll post about what I wished I had and what learned I needed on hand.

In the different types of storms many of us have faced, how would you assess your level of emergency preparation? What things can you recommend as an emergency must-have?

By the way, the power returned at about 11:30 pm that night.

I pray that you are safe and well.

Blessings!

xoxKimberly