You never know until you need it

Yesterday was our rush day.

The Man was headed off to the far reaches of the Midwest (Illinois, but as far from Chicago as possible, mentally and physically, and cell-phone-ally), and after dropping him at the van-pool to get a vehicle, Arabella and I ran errands, culminating with taking the car to the shop for an oil change and an investigation into why there was a disturbing rattling coming from it when I started it up. Its only two blocks, so we walked back with her in the stroller, with car seat hanging on the back, and made side trips to the library and the mini park, where we ran into one of her non-school buddies. The weather felt heavy, like it might rain, but still humid and hot, and walking from the park the one long block was hard, made harder when I realized Arabella was holding her foot on the wheel of the stroller, slowing down my already slow slog. Like being hugely pregnant isn't impediment enough.

The car was done, but it began raining, and thundering and lightning too. We waited until the rain slowed, then slogged back to the shop ($49, oil change, air filter, welding back the little doohickey that holds the exhaust system onto the car), and came home. I felt everything was going well. We discovered the Man is in a part of the world that gets no cell phone reception, but has dsl, so he emailed to say he had arrived safe and sound. Seriously, my grandmothers farm in rural Texas gets cell phone reception, why doesn't small town Illinois?

And as I was about to shepherd Arabella up to bath & bed, the lights went out. All up and down our street. Arabella kept trying to turn on and off various lights, and then complaining that they didn't work, and I should fix them. The Man keeps about a dozen flashlights all over the house, and in the studio, and I can't find a single one, since we have them hidden from Arabella. And apparently from me too. I found my candles, and went hunting for matches, lighters, something. Since the Man stopped smoking in January, the lighters have become scarce. And the stove, though gas, has an electric starter, so I couldn't light the candles there. I didn't want to go rummaging around in the dark basement trying to see the flame in the hot water heater.

So I took Arabella (barefoot) and we sloshed over to our neighbors house. A week ago, our neighbor had a scare, with a young man the police were searching the street for hiding out in her sun room (fortunately not accessible to the inside of the house), so I was careful. She doesn't seem the kind to shoot through her door, but with the lights out and the sun room invader fresh in her memory, I didn't want to take a chance. I knocked ... very ... slowly. And tried to keep my face where she could see it in the twilight if she looked through the window. As it was, she was paniked but relieved to see us. And she had a lighter, but no candles. Just as I was lighting the candles to head back home, the lights came back on.

As I tucked Arabella in bed, she asked why the lights all went out, and I said, it was the electricity, in all the houses, that's what runs our lights. She said, "I don't want Lec-Tee-See", and I said, "but without electricity there is no tv, either," and she got a thoughtful look and decided maybe it wasn't all bad.

Middle Name Submissions

We're still accepting middle name submissions. Something to go with Sabine. Let us know.