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Picture by Kowanda McBride
Just recently my family was hanging out in the house. We were all doing our own thing. Suddenly, a thunderstorm was upon us. Strong winds, hail and lots of rain. Of course, we lose power. Within five minutes I hear, “I’m bored. What are we going to do without electronics?”. Really? Are you kidding me? Sigh. Obviously, we are relying too much on television and video games for entertainment. It definitely was not like that when I was a kid. What could we do with no electricity? Well, that sounded like a great blog post. So, I started writing by the beam of a flashlight. Here is the list I came up with:
- Write a letter, blog or journal using a flashlight beam to see. (Of course, this had to be number one!)
- Read. Also by the beam of a flashlight. A book light would work, too!
- Play hide and seek. As a kid we did this outside on summer nights. I think it would be fun to do indoors when the power is out.
- Tell ghost stories. Snuggle with the whole family on the couch or in a bed.
- Thank God for the rain. When you are in a drought some rain is better than no rain!
- Talk. About anything. When was the last time you had a meaningful conversation with family members?
- Listen and watch the storm. I like the sound of the rain. How about you?
- Play flashlight tag. This could be pretty fun.
- Have a shadow puppet theater. Take turns making shadow puppets and telling stories.
- Yell at your neighbors while you are all out on your porches. Yep, I did that. We could barely hear each other. So, it didn’t last long. I was thinking a tin cans and a string would have been mighty useful.
What will you do the next time you lose power? Get some good quality time in with your family before the power comes back on.
One last thing, after the storm passes, I hope you see rainbows!