Powerful

As in, full of power, meaning- I finally got my power back! This marks the end of four long days of cold, darkness, and a lot of takeout. In the thick of it, we were pretty miserable, but looking back on it now, I can see some of the romance in having no power. Michael and I had a lovely candlelit dinner of cold Chinese food and went to bed early every night. Ella B, little Miss particular, didn't even seem to notice. She loved walking around the house carrying a little lantern and now thinks that candles are just about the coolest thing ever.

We were nervous about how this whole thing would affect her, especially the cold, but we just bundled her up in two layers of pajamas and figured that if she woke up, we'd let her sleep with us. We read her some books by candlelight and sent her off to bed and then she (wait for it) WAS TOTALLY FINE! Not only did she not seem to notice the cold or the lack of lights, I think she actually liked it. She spent her mornings at the diner with either mommy or daddy and her evenings eating pizza at Ernie's or lentil loaf at Amy's. Wednesday and Thursday she spent the day at Miss Amanda's house with two kitty cats, a great Dane named Scooby, and a baby, and then we went to Tommy and Kristy's where she chased Jacob and Nathan and jumped on the couch while we played Just Dance on the Wii. All in all, it has been a pretty awesome blackout for Ella B.

When we got home tonight and discovered we had power, Michael and I jumped up and down and Ella looked at us like we were crazy. Then we put her to bed and she cried for the first time in weeks. Call me crazy, but I think my baby wishes we were Amish.

I think what she really enjoyed was our technology-free undivided attention, which reminded me of why I've always sympathized with the Ludites. Right now I am sitting on the couch watching T.V. and blogging and Michael is in the other room playing some weird building game on the other computer. During the power outage, we went to bed early and actually even talked a little. We were well-rested and more connected. And then the power came back on and we locked on to our devices again and that was that.

So maybe we can all learn a lesson from Ella B that there is something to be said for less technology and more humanity. Touche Ella B, touche.