161315Z 03004KT M1/4SM OVC002 06/04 A3026 RMK A01
I was standing at the kitchen window this morning smiling out at my dog wondering how he was going to respond to peanut butter/ cinnamon toast pannini scrapes when the power suddenly went out. He jumped and my hand recoiled from the coffee bean grinders button ... "Ah man ... seriously?! Those five extra minutes in the sack are going to cost me my morning coffee!?" Yes, it is always about coffee first thing in the morning.
Fortunately, all those candles were easy to lay my hands on ... and the pantry has a flashlight all its own (top right shelf) and the match box was ready to go exactly where it belongs ... and I have a gas stove ... and I have a small jar of instant coffee (labeling it coffee is probably a class action lawsuit waiting to occur). Here's the thing ... even with every thing I needed to prepare breakfast exactly where I expected it to be, cooking in the dark was difficult. Everything went in slow motion. And, once the banana was cut I couldn't find the knife to spread peanut butter ... or I wasn't sure about how much cinnamon I'd already shaken out ... or maybe my pan was too hot ... not hot enough? ... no telling! And I thought about how it was for my Gran moving about life in an age induced twilight. A very confident, competent woman became ... fuzzy. Fuzzy about every little thing. She seemed to concede gracefully. She trusted. My mom is "fuzzing out" now ... she's fighting it, uh, yeah, pretty much tooth and nail. Spoke with my brother yesterday and he says it's time for her to loose the car keys for good. Not going to be pretty.
I thought about Granny and Momma this morning while I was in the dark ... in my own kitchen with everything just right but going just a lot wrong. It was an eye opening experience, and a bit amusing, but only because I knew the lights would eventually be coming back on. I think it would have been quite vexing otherwise. I can see how the frustration would build and one would have to decide how to disperse it. Will I be able to be gracious about the inevitable or will I behave disgracefully? I think one gets to choose.
Was able to get breakfast together and out the door to deliver Five to school on time. The lights clicked back on just as I went out the door. Excellent! And ... this is the thankful part ... when I got back home Two had real coffee waiting in the coffeepot for me. And ... the banana cutting knife was right there under the cinnamon sugar plate.
I'm thankful for a little tutorial on how it feels when the lights just don't quite come full on anymore. And ... thankful for what Two did ... she made the coffee especially for me and in so doing reminded me that I don't have to deal with the dark all by myself.
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