So the other day I tried out being Amish. I’m not a fan.
We had a BIG storm on Saturday night in Louisville. I mean, I didn’t know it was a big storm at the time. But it was.
We were sitting around before Destiny Church, talking with Ron Rhoads, who had flown in to speak to us. And we kind of noticed it started raining. The kids looked out the windows and it was a white-out of water. And Ron mentioned that you could feel the house swaying in the wind a bit. Our windows all started leaking. And the power flickered a bunch before it gave up completely.
But I wasn’t really that impressed. Especially because it was all over in about 10 minutes. And the sun came out. And the power didn’t come back on.
People on their way to Destiny Church started calling and texting, saying “The roads are blocked, there are power lines and trees down, the park is flooded.”
Even so, I was skeptical, because I was like, “Ah, it can’t be that bad! The sun is shining.”
But it was. Bad.
When Destiny Church was over, we drove down Bardstown Road. Most of the street was without power. People were sitting in the dark at outdoor cafe tables. One guy was crouched on the sidewalk, charging his phone at an outlet on the side of a building that still had power. Intersections were blocked off with caution tape. Emergency vehicles screamed by at regular intervals. The restaurants that did have electricity were packedĀ to capacity. Pedestrians aimlessly walked up and down the street.
It was like an apocalypse.
And when we got back home that night, we STILL had no power. Along with pretty much all the rest of Louisville, but that’s irrelevant.
Do you know what no power means? It means no life. Nothing in my house works without electricity. Nothing. I mean, I like technology. And lights. And putting a movie on for my kids when they’re going crazy.
Our electricity came back on after about 20 hours, but that doesn’t mean the nightmare was over.
The street next to us still doesn’t have power 3 days later. My coffee shop on the corner doesn’t have power. The box that supplies our internet does not have power.
I use the internet for everything. Communication, my calendar, recipes, baby-sitting the kids. EVERYTHING.
And I guess ATT understood how I felt. Because there’s now a generator keeping the phone box in our neighborhood running. I’m pretty sure my internet is powered by a generator, friends. That’s insane.
You know how people sometimes like to bemoan the absence of “simpler times”? They’re wrong. Stumbling around in the dark with a lantern (flashlight) is a pain. Having no refrigeration? Not cool. Trust me, I’m not moving to Lancaster County any time soon.