The Power Is Out!

All it took was a little flicker of the lights and that was it: the world as we know it had come to an end.

"WHAT?" screamed our younger son, and he turned to me with his eyes wide. "What? Huh? What just..." his words dangled in the air of confusion that swirled around him.

"Oh dear," I said. "It looks like we've just lost power."

"Pow-wer?!" He looked at me like I had five eyes. "But, WE CAN'T BE OUT OF POWER!"

"Take a deep breath and look around you." I told him with no sympathy. "It's already happened."

"OOOHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhOOOOOOOOHHHHHH!" he wailed. And he WAILED!!

Seriously, what was I missing? I mean, it isn't fun, I'll admit. But, we have our health, right?

"MOM! My DSi is almost out of charging! And, well, I'm bored with my iPad right now. And, well, all of my favorite shows are on RIGHT NOW! AND WHAT ABOUT THE POKEMON GAME WE JUST RENTED AT BLOCKBUSTER? This is just a DISASTER!!!!!" Wail. Cry. Moan. Waaaiiiil.

He told me that he felt like a pioneer. And then, right about that time, my young pioneer marched upstairs to search for his emergency kit.

Not one to be organized or prepared, he returned to me with his Pioneer's Emergency Kit that was a bit incomplete: a DSi car adapter and a car charger into which the adapter fit, (scored on that one!), a battery-powered DVD player (Dead), brand new iPad, (excommunicated for a very irrational reason), and, several frustrating chargers that seemed to fit absolutely nothing in the house. We needed help. The DSi wasn't going to cut it. Yes, it was his own fault, but we've been working on this skill his entire life. No, this will not be a hard lesson learned. This will be an exercise of crash and burn. A tediously long, drawn out test to my nerves that will end in raised voices and a glass of wine.

Bleeep! My phone sounded a text from my friend down the street.

"Is your power out?" she asked.

"Yes." I answered.

"Son freaking out." she said.

"Mine, too." I told her. And, to calm my son's anxiety, I decided to let him know that his buddy was bothered by the power outage as well.

"Mom, tell him that he might as well get used to it," he wailed. "He's never going to see WiFi again!"

Someone please tell me how long this power is to be out before this child curls into the fetal position! His electronics are safe. They are predictable. In this anxiety-ridden world, electronics are his portable sedative. With them, all situations feel a little better.

And now, today, with the rude and tangible introduction to him that electronics are fueled most usually by ELECTRICITY, which has now demonstrated to be just as unpredictable as the world around him...well, his safety net is not as it seems.

My disorganized child who can't keep track of chargers. My type-B child who is not likely to charge his electronics at the end of every day so as to be prepared for the next day's play. Electricity, you see, was his one constant. It was everywhere, and it was the bridge to what comforts him in life.

My friend abandoned her house, by the way. She took her son over to her mom's house where there was electricity. And, on her way, she brought my son their DVD player and me some wine while we waited out the power failure.

Thank you, Diva.

Perhaps my next Plan B lies in solar energy? I don't know, but, for now, I think I am almost as elated as our son is that, eventually, the power did, in fact, return.