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lydamorehouseApparently, I missed the British Army invading MarsCON while we were away in Valparasio, and, just as we started cooking dinner after nine hours on the road....
Actually, the power seemed to have gone out for the entire block. Mason and I were just settling in to watch a little bit of WALKING WITH MONSTERS as a treat for his having been really surprisingly well behaved for the entire trip, when there was a soft pop and everything went dark. Then the house was filled with a strange hum as all of the emergency bubblers in the various fish tanks sprang to life. (Yes, we have back-up generators for our fish tanks, so they can continue to have oxygen in their tanks in case of a power outage. Hello, my name is Lyda Morehouse, and I am a serious fish nerd.)
I called NSP with my cell phone and reported the outage. The nice recorded voice happily explained they expected power back by 7:30 pm (it was about six.) We turned off the oven and ordered a pizza from Davanni's. We lit candles and keroscene lamps and settled in for the classic power outage past time: card games. Mason and I played a couple of hands of "Slap Jack" -- but Mason was tired from the road and prone to temper tandrums at the mere THOUGHT that he might lose. Luckily, the pizza arrived by quarter to seven, and just as the pizza guy pulled up the lights popped back on. We let Mason stay up a couple of extra hours to eat and to finish watching a little of the MONSTERS video.<
Normally, we don't let him stay up to watch TV of all things, but the one tantrum he threw on the road was because the DVD was skipping (too many bumps on the Illinois tollway), and so he had to give up on it. He managed to completely turn his attitude around -- he read chapter books and giggled his way through the various Garfield collections he has for almost the rest of the trip-- and we decided to reward him with the chance to watch a bit of the video at home. I totally thought that he would be all jittery once we turned off the TV, fifteen minutes past his usual bed time, but after saying goodnight to his new invisible friend Mesothelae he dropped off almost instantly.
Shawn and I were able to stay up and watch our new favorite Sunday night show: DEXTER. Although, as usual, whenever I watch that show I dream I'm a serial killer. A nice one, but still a serial killer. It's very disturbing.
Generally, I'd say the trip was successful, such as this kind of trip can be. Shawn had a lot of time to hang out with her dad, although he was terribly weak the entire time. He had only one really good day -- Thursday, the first full day we were there. Otherwise, according to Shawn, he mostly dozed. I think it was really hard for her, but she's been very smart about all of this. She just sits with him all day and knits and, when he's able, chats. She doesn't make any demands -- just appreciates the time she does get with him. Grandma is more like I'm afraid I'd be -- she fusses around and can't sit still. But everyone deals with grief in their own way. I'm glad Shawn will be able to look back on this time she's had and think, "Well, I was there. I held his hand. I talked to him."
Sometimes that's what love is.
...the power went out in our house.
Actually, the power seemed to have gone out for the entire block. Mason and I were just settling in to watch a little bit of WALKING WITH MONSTERS as a treat for his having been really surprisingly well behaved for the entire trip, when there was a soft pop and everything went dark. Then the house was filled with a strange hum as all of the emergency bubblers in the various fish tanks sprang to life. (Yes, we have back-up generators for our fish tanks, so they can continue to have oxygen in their tanks in case of a power outage. Hello, my name is Lyda Morehouse, and I am a serious fish nerd.)
I called NSP with my cell phone and reported the outage. The nice recorded voice happily explained they expected power back by 7:30 pm (it was about six.) We turned off the oven and ordered a pizza from Davanni's. We lit candles and keroscene lamps and settled in for the classic power outage past time: card games. Mason and I played a couple of hands of "Slap Jack" -- but Mason was tired from the road and prone to temper tandrums at the mere THOUGHT that he might lose. Luckily, the pizza arrived by quarter to seven, and just as the pizza guy pulled up the lights popped back on. We let Mason stay up a couple of extra hours to eat and to finish watching a little of the MONSTERS video.<
Normally, we don't let him stay up to watch TV of all things, but the one tantrum he threw on the road was because the DVD was skipping (too many bumps on the Illinois tollway), and so he had to give up on it. He managed to completely turn his attitude around -- he read chapter books and giggled his way through the various Garfield collections he has for almost the rest of the trip-- and we decided to reward him with the chance to watch a bit of the video at home. I totally thought that he would be all jittery once we turned off the TV, fifteen minutes past his usual bed time, but after saying goodnight to his new invisible friend Mesothelae he dropped off almost instantly.
Shawn and I were able to stay up and watch our new favorite Sunday night show: DEXTER. Although, as usual, whenever I watch that show I dream I'm a serial killer. A nice one, but still a serial killer. It's very disturbing.
Generally, I'd say the trip was successful, such as this kind of trip can be. Shawn had a lot of time to hang out with her dad, although he was terribly weak the entire time. He had only one really good day -- Thursday, the first full day we were there. Otherwise, according to Shawn, he mostly dozed. I think it was really hard for her, but she's been very smart about all of this. She just sits with him all day and knits and, when he's able, chats. She doesn't make any demands -- just appreciates the time she does get with him. Grandma is more like I'm afraid I'd be -- she fusses around and can't sit still. But everyone deals with grief in their own way. I'm glad Shawn will be able to look back on this time she's had and think, "Well, I was there. I held his hand. I talked to him."
Sometimes that's what love is.
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Date: 2008-03-03 05:39 pm (UTC)