Yesterday was the start of the Chinese New Year. The celebration will be about two weeks; but for many, it won't be a celebration at all. There have been some horrible weather, storms, and consequences like not having power for the past three weeks (due to snow storms).
We are not accustomed to doing without electricity, so much so that we become paralyzed and unable to function. Indeed, we become horrified. In a way, I can totally understand this, especially as I've lived both without and with. These last few years, I've become so used to having the convenience that I have made so few preparations for the possibility of continuing to go about my own tasks without electricity.
It has not always been so. For many years, I didn't have easily accessible electricity. And heat was not plentiful. I didn't have hot running water, either. Mostly this was during my teen years, in Pennsylvania. I was used to not having power, heat, hot water; so when blizzards would render the folks powerless, it was just another ordinary day for me, to be taken in stride. I was much better able to cope because it was the normal state of affairs for me. Now, I am not able to cope, effectively. I don't even have reserves of water in case I experience a situation like I did a couple weeks back. I'm not nearly as resilient as I had been. It's exhausting.
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I've grown softer over the years....when the cable goes out I panic big time.
ReplyDeleteRuss
You know Deb ... when I first married a long, long time ago (seems like hundreds of years now) we used to 'stock up' for winter. Round about Thanksgiving we'd get in a few extra ... everything. Water, canned goods, flower, sugar, etc ... but we didn't over do it. Just enough to last three or four days should we need it.
ReplyDeleteOne year we were glad we had ... there was an ice storm and it took days and days to get the electricity back on, but we had the necessary water for the toilet and drinking and we had a gas grill for cooking (outdoors) so we were set.