I woke to darkness and lay in bed going over the busy day ahead of me. Finally I got up and flicked on the light switch—nothing happened. I checked my phone. No Wi-Fi, no data. With our spotty cell service, there was no way of knowing if we had received outage alerts or school cancellation emails.
I grabbed a sweater and went downstairs, found a flashlight and a match to light the gas stove, then boiled water to brew coffee. Out the window, the falling snow obscured the sunrise. Snowdrifts covered the road.
My work meetings and deadlines, my sons’ classes and tests, my husband’s plans—everything would have to wait. God, why did this happen today of all days? I asked. Thankfully, the woodstove was still going strong. I took a deep breath and thought, I suppose we have everything we need.
The house was quiet as I sipped my coffee and cuddled our dog. One by one, my husband and sons came downstairs and groaned at the turn the day had taken.
I opened the curtains to let in light. We gathered at the table and had cereal. After breakfast, my husband played a game of solitaire. Then my sons joined him in building a house of cards that reached three levels…until our cat jumped up to investigate and knocked it down. We played a round of Scrabble and had my favorite snow day lunch: grilled cheese and tomato soup.
We took a long walk in the woods behind our house, trudging through the drifts along the stream. We spotted deer tracks and played in the snow that was coming down in big fluffy flakes. When we returned, all the clocks in the house were blinking. I started to make dinner, happy to have things back to normal—even better than normal.
A day that began without electricity, cut off from the rest of the world, ended with hot chocolate and power restored. Recharged by the unexpected gift of a day together.
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