The power went out a few days ago so I left work and went up stairs to have an early dinner. Silas asked if we could have dinner on the patio since the fans weren’t working. I was glad we did. Eating while sitting on the ground, with the kids running around and laughing made it feel like we were having a picnic!
As usual, I was the last one eating so I was left there alone. As the sun began to set I was serenaded by a bird ensemble. I looked around to take it all in and was in awe. Knowing that I would probably never again live in a place with regular glorious sunsets, I reveled in the moment.
A few minutes later I found myself sitting with Anita, simply enjoying the breeze, the scenery, and the experience of silence. I said to her, “You know, this is what I fear about going back to America. That I won’t find time to do this, to do nothing and simply enjoy being there.” She corrected me by saying, “It’s not like you do this everyday. If we had electricity you’d be in the house doing something on your computer. The only reason you have times like this here is because the electricity goes out.” Sadly, she was right and for the first time I was thankfulfor the regular power outages.
While I normally wait anxiously for the electricity to come back on, I wanted that outage to go on forever. When it was dark, I put on my headlamp and went outside to play with Silas. The headlamp wasn’t necessary though because of the brilliant moonlight. We played, “I’m gonna squish your shadow!”
When Silas got tired of running around he attempted to pet Annie, the guard dog. After a full year of rebuffing him, I was shocked to see Annie finally give in. That was all the evidence I needed that even dogs can grasp the beauty of a blackout.
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You know once we’re back in the States you’re going to be glued to your computer, especially with the high speed actually being pretty speedy. I’m going to have to force you to relax and play “black out!”.
The sunsets sound nice. Patricia and I have started driving to her school sometimes on weekends just to sit by the ocean and do nothing. It’s nice to just be.
On Anita’s comment, maybe you can buy Danny a subscription to Cyberpatrol. I’ve been using it to regulate my internet usage at home–I have it shut off my internet from 9am-5pm to force me to get to work (I’m self-employed so I can’t depend on the fear of a manager’s ire), but then i have it shut down at 11 pm so that i don’t stay glued to the computer. Patricia thinks I’m neurotic–I’ll be surfing the net or doing email right up til 11am, then it shuts down on me with this big orange screen saying something like “Blocked!”. I’ll sigh and say “Dang it, my internet’s off!” but after maybe 3 seconds, I’ll say, “Ahhh, what a relief.” If I can get the courage to do so, I’m thinking of bringing the shutdown time back to 9pm.
It’s so great to know I’m not the only one with an addiction.
For better for worse, I also do a lot of tinkering offline so shutting off the internet wouldn’t cut it. That’s why full fledged blackouts are such a blessing. Anyway, I imagine I’ll be so busy between anita and the kids, school, and research that I’ll have to give up my hobbies for a few years.
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