Weekend Motivation 204

We had a not THAT terrible winter storm last Friday night and our power was out into Monday morning! Let me tell you I was NOT impressed! I am not a camper at all and 6 hours into the 54 hour outage I told everyone not to even bring up the idea of camping before 2027 now. My parents used to take me ‘camping’ in a 40 ft trailer with two bedrooms, a full kitchen and a furnace. I think they hated it too and I remember people trying not to be miserable as they watched a very small TV. A few times we even pitched a tent in the backyard but never made it trough the night.

So I was not impressed to be cooking three days of meals on the wood stove, without wifi, boiling water on the stove for dishes, stashing the contents of one freezer on the deck or dipping into the well for water. Going to bed the last night the thought of doing this for a fourth day was making me fight the urge to cry. Yes, I was somewhat dramatic.

But 36 hours in I was also very thankful. I just felt super lucky that we had a wood stove and the house was over 20 degrees inside even though it was almost -20 degrees outside. I was grateful that our little work generator was there to power our pump, a lamp, the coffee peculator, the fridge, freezer and a couple of heaters for our neighbors too (and of course cell phones). Honey’s son and granddaughter rely on electricity for heat and 12 hours in they arrived in a giant 4-wheel drive to camp out with us and stay warm. I was thankful that we could help our neighbors and the people we love the most. Even though his pipes froze solid our propane tank and job site heater was able to warm his house up in an hour not days.

I’ve been without heat for two days in weather like this watching the temperature get so close to freezing and genuinely scared. I’ve camped out in one room sealing of doors with towels under all my blankets with plates full of candles trying to stay warm. I’ve worried about the impacts of extra costs in emergencies like this before and I could see online that people in my community were now. Even though I was not happy, at all, about the situation I couldn’t help look at our situation and feel lucky overall. When bad stuff happens, even if it’s totally beyond your control if you have what you need you have to realize how lucky you are.

When dangerous situations come up like this if you are and will be okay then count your blessings in the moment. If you can help others, then you should. When things are good for you even when they are bad it’s okay to be miserable and grateful at the same time!