28 december 2022
So... yesterday PDX had the largest number of people without power anywhere in the United States. And we were some of them. We went 11 hours without power in our home, and it was late into the night before we had the return of home internet.
There are a few things that come to mind from this experience. The first one being resilience. When confronted with a lack of power, we figured out how to keep going. We ate food from cans (sardines for lunch, yum!), we dug out lamps and candles, we listened to the radio a little, talked a lot, and played board games by the light of LEDs charged by a little solar panel.
Part of this going as smoothly as it did is planning. It wasn't an accident that we have emergency food stored, solar lighting ready to go (that's more to do with my mom being obsessed with all things solar, but I digress), an obsession with keeping up-to-date with the world regardless of what state it's in, and so on. We've had my father-in-law staying with us, and our practices of resilience scaled very well to accomodate him.
That's not to say it wasn't rough. Lack of heat and entertainment does things to people. When the internet came back on in the morning, I realized how much I miss bits and pieces that it contributes to my daily routine. Without the devices that I rely on for contact and services, I felt diminshed.
Today is maybe back to normal, but not quite. There's debris scattered around our condo complex, it's still rainy and cold out, there's still various weather related warnings that my phone is yelling at me about today. But all-in-all, I feel pretty good about today and what it might bring.