Number of hours we were without power: about 85
How many days that equals for those who don’t want to do math: 3½
Number of days I was prepared to go without power: 2
Number of days being without power was kind of fun, like camping: 1 (after which it just sucked)
How many times you have to fill our largest bowl with water from the tub in order to flush the toilet (because we get our water from a well, so when we lose power, we lose water): 6
How many gallons of water we bought because all of the websites say to buy a gallon per person per day for 3 days: 12
Other than the tub filled with water, which was used for flushing toilets, washing hands, and one desperate ice-cold whore’s bath, how many of those 12 gallons of water we actually used: 2
(Apparently beer and wine, which we had in abundance, replaced most of the water we should have needed. Also, I suspect most of those two gallons were used to make coffee on the grill.)
How many years one can avoid cleaning out the fridge and freezer before Mother Nature bitch slaps you into cleaning it: 3
Expiration date on the oldest thing found in the freezer: 2009
Number of ice packs found in the freezer that I had accused my parents of stealing, which they totally didn’t steal and I’m sorry: 11
Number of loaves of banana bread that could have been made by the bananas frozen in my freezer: 7 (21 bananas)
Number of half-jars of salsa found in my fridge: 9
Number of jars of pickles: 7
How much it will cost to replace all of that food, from milk and eggs to Lean Pockets and frozen pizza to Chinese mustard and fish sauce: I don’t want to think about it
How many amazing people offered to take us in when they heard we were without power: 5 (Thank you, deeply, all of you.)
How much we love our friends Eve and John, at whose house we stayed for 2 nights, who let us shower in their glorious hot water, whose toilets flush without using bowls of water to fill the tank, who always have lots and lots of wine and beer in the house, and who make us laugh our butts off loudly and often: infinity
Bright sides that come immediately to mind (I’m sure there are more): 8
1) No one I know was injured. No trees fell on our house. We basically got through this storm with nothing more than an inconvenience.
2) We spent some quality time as a family without technology getting in the way.
3) We got to spend a wonderful couple of days with friends.
4) I remembered how much I miss cooking on gas burners, and now I know that I can cook on the propane burner on our grill, which works just as well as a gas cooktop.
5) My 2 fridges and 2 freezers are now super-clean.
6) I don’t have to feel guilty when my kids watch loads of TV and play Wii for a few days because they were in withdrawal.
7) We have a renewed gratitude for the little things, like being able to flush the toilet and wash our hands after going to the bathroom.
8) We were reminded what amazing friends we have.
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