Electricity: I'll never take you for granted again!

On June 29th, there was a horrible storm. It knocked out power from North Carolina all the way through Virginia, DC, Maryland, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. It was the 2nd largest power outage in Virginia's recorded history. President Obama declared a state of emergency in Ohio and Virginia. Power is expected to be out for a full week in some areas. To make it completely unbearable, the weather has been between 99-109 degrees since the power went out.

I was driving through TN when this happened. My brother called me to ask if our town was under a tornado warning since it was so windy. He exclaimed, "Holy crap! A tree just fell on my car!" Then the phone went dead. I couldn't get ahold of him or my husband the rest of the night. Talk about panic. All I could do was hope they were ok and pray for them.

I came back home on Sunday. The power was still out. It was 102 degrees when I got home. Aaron and I went to Olive Garden since no electricity, no hot water, and no air conditioning made cooking impossible. We then went to Walmart to buy some essentials, you know, poptarts, peanut butter crackers, juice boxes, flashlights, lanterns, cots. Walmart's flashlight and lantern section was completely empty.


We went home and the house smelled terrible. It smelled like very fishy cat food, garbage, mildewy laundry, old dishes.... Because the power was out, no air was circulating. Aaron hadn't cleaned all weekend. Thank goodness for scented candles. It was 80 degrees in our house downstairs and over 95 degrees upstairs. Yuck. Yuck. Yuck.

I took a cold shower and was already sweaty again before I had dried off with the towel. I put on a thin t-shirt and pj shorts. My brother was not only without power, but also without water (???). He came over around midnight. Aaron, our dog and I slept on the couch. My brother slept on the livingroom floor. Even with the windows open, it only got down to 79 degrees by morning.

That morning (day 3 with no electricity), I woke up at 6am just because I was hot and sticky. I went to take a shower and there were no clean towels. All of my clothes were wrinkled. I emailed my boss to tell him I'd be late and set off in search of a laundrymat.

Aaron and I ended up going to the laundrymat on campus. We played games and I painted my nails while we waited for laundry. Then, God bless them, they let us take showers at the student union. The campus cafeteria also provided buffet lunch & dinner for $3/person. We have taken advantage of that this week!


Our alma mater has been a huge blessing through this catastrophe! They provided housing for their employees, opened showers and laundry service to the public, set up cooling stations inside academic buildings, and provided free bottled waters for everyone. Way to show the love of God!

Monday afternoon, our electricity came back on! Thank the Lord! We cleaned the house, washed the remaining laundry, cleaned out our fridge, and replinished groceries. I am so thankful to have air conditioning, light, and warm water again! =) It was a fun little adventure for my husband and me, but I do not wish to relive it.


Is the power out where you live?