There is nothing more disappointing than coming home after a long hot day expecting to immediately put the kids to bed and watch GLOW on Netflix only to discover that the power is out.
So instead of a relaxing evening rotting away in front of the TV, I have to put the kids to bed which is made more complicated by the fact that the kids have suddenly decided that they are afraid of the house now that the power is out.
It was 8 p.m. in Prince George in the summertime. The sun had just gone behind the treeline and it was still light outside. But no, now that they can't turn on the light to make it brighter than the sun in their bedroom, so we have to use the ultra-bright LED lantern that burns out your retinas that my mother had bought us for Christmas a few years ago. At the time I thought, "Why would you buy this?" Now I know. Eventually the kids were snuggled in and sleeping and I was left to my own devices (with no devices to run) because my husband had gone out for drinks with friends (it was a pre-arranged date - he did not run out on me).
I was bored.
When you are busy with small children, there is a recurring fantasy that plays on a loop in your head. It is a comforting "one day I will have free time" fantasy and it is as elusive as a beautiful summer day in Prince George with no mosquitos. But here I was with more than one hour with no kids, no interruptions and a list of things to do that I was avoiding.
Here are all of the things that I could have done:
Empty the dishwasher
Load the dishwasher (or wash the dishes by hand but that would never happen)
Clean the bathrooms
Sweep the floors
Tidy up the seemingly endless loose pencil crayons scattered around the living room
File the actually endless paperwork that accumulates in a household with someone (me) that hoards paper
Relax (ha!)
Work on my thesis (double ha!)
Write my column for next week
Read
Go to bed at 8:30 (tempting)
Sit on my deck and watch nature (i.e. bugs)
Knit
Think about whether or not I will actually be able to rollerskate again or if my knees were too old
Sew
Mend something
Make a list of things I should be doing
As you may expect, I made the above list and wrote my column. I then stared at the blinking cursor on my laptop while I calculated how much battery time I would have left by the time I stopped phaffing around and worked on my thesis.
After deciding that there was not enough time to work on my thesis, I watched the clouds rolls across the pale blue sky (from inside where there were no bugs) and wondered why on earth the power was out when there was no storm or lightning.
Then I went to bed.
It was a good night.
