A Beautiful Sight

When you've been without electrical power for nearly 72 hours, the electric company's truck in your alley is a beautiful sight indeed!

After a two-day Hurricane Irene delay, our city schools finally will open tomorrow for this school year. The kids are not particularly excited and have really enjoyed the unexpected extra days of summer vacation...swimming, teepee-building, hide-and-seeking, Monopoly-ing, Bey-Blading, water-hosing, scootering, playgrounding, Manga-reading, scavenger-hunting, and the list goes on...its amazing how creative kids (and their parents) can be when their electronic world comes to a screeching halt. As inconvenient as the ill-effects of Irene have been, they have also served to shine a light on our often too-plug-dependent-Westernized-world way of life. All in all, I realize I am grateful for the pause.

We live in a very neighborly community by any standards, but the past few days have brought about even greater degrees of neighborliness, as we have conversed at length with neighbors we usually only greet briefly, frequented local public places chatting while charging our phones, and wandered our nearby blocks to gape in unified amazement at the huge 100-year-old trees that were ripped up by the roots and crashed to the ground -- outrageously blocking streets and sidewalks but not even grazing houses. We are blessed, no?

The enhanced neighborliness was especially visible in the many orange utility cord lines extended across several streets as neighbors with electricity intact on one side of the street reached out to extend (literally) electrical service to those (like our family) on the other sides of streets whose electrical lines were down. Thanks to a wonderful neighbor on the other side of our block, we even managed to get in a little Disney Channel Mulan movie-watching for Montgomery and a friend today (not to mention salvaged refrigeration!).

So, what are my final reflections tonight? Hmmm...

Many things, indeed, but especially gratitude for human kindness, increased appreciation for our western world modern conveniences like electricity and the appliances it powers, and, mostly, thankfulness for a loving God who knows when we need a pause to better remember the simple joys of living in community...and who makes sure we get it.

Feeling blessed and grateful tonight.

Much Love. Take Care.