Outage

Last night was supposed to be a normal Friday night. I had planned to head over to the Greenes after work for a night of Prison Break and laundry. Those plans began to go off without a hitch. I arrived, dropped a load in the washer and even got that first load into the dryer, beginning a second load. The TV show was being recorded and things were going just fine.

And then 8:30 hit. I could have sworn I saw a bright flash outside. A split second later, the power went off. For a moment, darkness engulfed the Greenehouse, then the electricity returned. And as quickly and mysteriously as it came back into our lives, it was gone.

At the time, we adults had been debating what to get for dinner. With no power, tensions tend to rise in tight quarters with so many people, especially when children are involved. See, when kids can't be entertained by countless electrical devices, things get a little crazy. Kevin and I took off with the two oldest kids to pick up some food.

While we were out, we got a good look at the cause of the evening's festivities. A tractor-trailer made a right turn a little too tightly at the one major intersection in a small town. The nearby utility pole was splintered, causing the entire electrical grid to shut down. On the way back from the drive-thru, we passed my apartment building, which was also without power.

Progress Energy's automated line told us that the power would be restored by 10:15. Huh yeah right! Later the robot voice said 10:50. Some time after that, they said 2:15am. Not cool.

I was unable to finish my laundry that night. So I drove home, expecting to stumble into a darkened apartment. But as I turned the corner into my parking lot, I noticed lights in my neighbors' windows. Power had been restored. At least to some of us.

The Greenes regained power around 2am. All is once again right with the world.