The Distraction of Electricity Over this past weekend we spent 40 hours without electricity. It started Friday night about 7pm when a storm passed through and knocked out the power. (Thankfully we still had hot water.) This is very unusual for our area and we were surprised to find that our neighbors across the street all had power. We found out later that only about 35-40 houses in our neighborhood were out. As we sat there in the dark that night, under the faint glow of the street light across the street, I pondered how much we rely on electricity not just for the normal day to day operations such as the hair drying, dish washing, and microwaving, but for the distractions of everyday life. Jerry and I were forced to just sit there, literally, and talk in the romantic candle light. We talked about everything we could think of and enjoyed the candles that had been collecting dust for months. The candles in our fireplace had only been lit once since we put them in this spring - what a travesty! I pulled out every new, scented candle I've been forgetting to try and put them out. It was so quiet...no hum of some distant appliance or even the quiet static of the baby monitor. Most importantly, no computer, Internet or *gasp* BLOG to distract us from what we should really be doing - spending time together. The next morning, the transformer down the street was repaired and we went back to life as normal - washing clothes, sending emails, and blow drying hair. But the story doesn't end here, a little more than 24 hours later, we hear a shocking "ka-pow!" and the power went out again. In some ways I was annoyed, I really wanted to crosstich that night and there is just no way to do that in the dark, even with a great flashlight! In other ways, it was a relief. There was no way I could catch up on some of my work projects or get sucked into the Internet that night. We sat outside watching the stars and gazing at the moon rising. It was cool outside and quiet - we sipped our coffee and talked softly. For once I was thankful for the lack of distractions...for being forced to do nothing but relax. It was as if God was trying to tell us in an indisputable way to just put the difficult week behind us and be still. Well, thanks Big Guy - we needed that!