How kicking it old school kept me occupied during Hurricane Irene… and beyond!

When we knew Hurricane Irene (or at least a lot of its wind and rain) was going to hit us here in Rhode Island, Brian and I figured that with 3 different places we could call “home” in our town, at least one of them might be spared a power outage.

We have: 1) our own apartment; 2)Brian’s parents’ house; and 3) Brian’s work garage (with a finished upper level – kitchen, living and work areas, television, etc.), all within a mile or so of each other.

But we had no such luck on the power front – all 3 of our “homes” were without power by Sunday morning. Luckily, Brian has a generator, so he and his brother hooked it up at their parents’ house and the three of us figured we’d wait out the storm there.

With the magic of electricity, we were able to get online and even watch a little television. The static didn’t matter; we felt connected to the rest of the world!

But the taste of civilization was short-lived; our cable went out shortly after, so there was no more Internet or television for us. Plus, Brian’s parents’ house is in an AT&T black hole, so phone service was spotty, texts went out and came in at random and I couldn’t access the Internet or my mail on my iPhone.

Living in the digital age that we do, you could say I felt lost.

I looked around the house for something to do – anything that would keep me distracted from, well, having nothing to do.

Since we had electricity, I figured I could read a book on the couch next to the lamp, so I headed over to the library to see what I could find.

It was slim pickings on the bookshelves… the reading material was heavy on airplane and automobile subjects. Not exactly where my interests lie.

I finally came upon a book that looked old and worn, with pages that had long ago turned yellow, but it had a subject matter that was at least interesting to me, given that I majored in U.S. History in college:

It was called Colonial Life In America, which the Foreword billed as, “of interest and value to children.”

Yes, the only suitable reading material I could find was a book about Colonial America, written for elementary school children and published in 1928.

But it was better than nothing!

I flew through the 125 pages and realized it had been a long time since I had sat down and read a book.

After that, I read through the newspaper and struck cabin fever gold: the Sunday crossword puzzle. That kept me occupied – albeit feeling alternately frustrated and accomplished – for a good hour or so.

But as fun as kicking it old school was during the hurricane, waking up the next day to no power again was no fun, especially since it was Monday and I had work to do. So I headed over to my parents’ house about 45 minutes away, which did have power. And Internet! And cable! Oh, my!

But I have to say, getting wrapped up in a book was a nice feeling… so last night, back at Brian’s parents’ house, where there was still no power (but a generator to keep the lights on), I was able to dig a little deeper in the library and find another book. This time? Danielle Steel. Oh, yeah.

I had never read a Danielle Steel book, but I know Audrey is a huge fan (as was my Nana), so I texted a picture of the book to Audrey, telling her it would be my reading material for the night. I assumed she had read it already, and here response – “Great one!” – confirmed it.

I got through the first 60 pages before I fell asleep, but now I’m hooked on this page-turner. So tonight, even though our power has been restored, I’m going to be kicking it old school again, curled up on the couch with a book.

Thanks, Irene, for reminding me how fun that can be!

About Audrey

Audrey McClelland has been a digital influencer since 2005. She’s a mom of 5 and shares tips on her three favorite things: parenting, fashion and beauty. She’s also a Contemporary Romance Author.

Sign Up To The Ultimate Style Newsletter for Moms

Categories

ShopStyle “List” Of all Things I Like and Blog About

Pinterest

2 Comments

  1. 8.30.11
    admin said:

    Oh no, Janie! I thought it would always be just you and me together reading our U.S. History type stuff! Remember that Grandma also LOVES these romance novels… to this day! Hey, I might just have to join the club! xoxox! Love you!

  2. 8.31.11
    Kim said:

    Jane, you have no idea how much I kicked myself for not getting a generator when Irene came to town. We were out of power for almost two days and when we did get power back on, no cable or internet. BUT, I ended up doing the same – spent time with a few good books and it really was great. Sometimes I had to use candlelight or a flashlight but it really was a nice experience. I would have loved to read that book you found on colonial times – what a find. In any event, glad you made it through okay – Hugs!

Comments are closed.