Dependency on Electricity and Taking it for Granted

The quote "Don't know what you got, til it's gone" is so true.  We do don't realize how good we have things until they are taken away.  It can be something so simple that you take for granted like electricity.  We use it every day in so many way yet we don't really think about it.

The other day our electricity went out around 5pm.  I was on the computer and all of a sudden everything went dark except for my laptop screen because it had battery power.  I shut off the computer to see what was going on.  After all, even though the laptop still worked, the modem uses electricity so the internet would not work anyway.

I quickly discovered how many things in my house actually depend on electricity.  Of course we know the lights don't work.  Everything was extra dark.  I usually have these 24 hour night lights for the dark areas and those were out with the rest of the lights.  All the digital clocks went out.  I had my cell phone as the only way to tell the time.  I checked the battery life on the phone.  It needed a charge but of course that wasn't going to happen.

My usual forms of entertainment and connection to the outside world, the computer and tv were out of commission.  I wanted to do some exercise but it was so dark it did not seem like a good idea.  It felt like it was time to go to bed but it was still early and I needed to make dinner.  That posed another challenge.

The refrigerator runs on electricity and I knew that by opening it, it would lose valuable cold air and who knows how long the power would be out.  I decided to keep it closed until I really needed something from inside.  I use the microwave quite often, but of course that was no longer an option.  I had a choice of some dry unrefrigerated food like chips but that was about it.

With it being so dark, I decided to try lighting some candles.  I had actually collected some candles in the past for moments just like this, so I had to give them a try.  I found the matches and lit the candles.  I managed to get two lit.  I had another but I wanted to conserve the matches because there were not that many left.  I tried to light the 3rd candle with the others but  ended up just making a mess with the wax and burning the side of one of the candles.

So with the candles lit, I just relaxed and tried to figure out if the power would be back soon.  I heard the neighbors mention that is was an issue with the electrical company.  Who knew when it would be fixed?  You hear those stories on the news about towns going for days without power.

After about an hour, all of a sudden the lights when back on!  Power was back!  It was so nice to have everything back to normal.  Even though the power was only out for a short time, it was a good exercise in realizing how important electricity is to our every day lives.