Family Time

Thanks to some unknown incident on a local highway I was traveling on my way home from work yesterday, I got home about thirty minutes later than usual. I call it an "unknown incident" because I never actually saw the reason for the traffic jam. Oh well, I already had my dinner cooked (left over roast beef from the night before), so I didn't let the delay get to me. I walked in the door, and my son said, "Mom, the power's been out . . . it just came back on." It wasn't storming or windy so again another unknown incident. Knowing that a delicious meal was only a microwave moment away, I non-chalantly took my roast out of the refrigerator and put some rolls in the oven. What a smart woman I was (I thought to myself) to have cooked this big roast the night before. As I was patting myself on the back, it happened . . . complete darkenss and silence. The power was out again. And there on the counter sat my beautifully sliced, COLD roast beef. I waited for a few minutes, hoping that the power would come back on . . . but it didn't. So, since my oven was still warm, I decided to put the roast beef in the oven . . . that would at least take off the chill. My rolls were fully cooked, at least, and I did have some potatoes that I had baked in the microwave. So, there we were, my husband, my son, and me - feasting on semi-warm roast beef in the dark.

After dinner, the power was still out (according to the power company, it should be on by 10:30). That meant that we had three hours to keep ourselves entertained with only one flashlight! It's a good thing we're a close family and enjoy each other's company. We played charades, then I made finger puppets on the wall (I make a pretty good finger bunny rabbit). After all of that fun, we decided to take a walk. We could see the power trucks going up and down the dirt road behind our house. So they were working on the problem (whatever the problem was).

The evening continued with our son playing his guitar as we sang some old hymns. And then we talked . . . we talked about school, work, politics and we talked about the September 11 events (since this is the 7th anniversary week).

The power came back on a little after 10:00. I had dirty dishes and clothes that all needed washing, but it was too late for all of that. Even though the evening chores didn't get done, we all enjoyed our family time together.