I’m still here. I know I disappeared off the face of the Earth for about a week again, but I’m still alive and kicking. It’s been an interesting one, to say the least.
I’ve been in a funk. I gave up on that whole idea of getting a job for 4 weeks at Marshall’s or K-Mart and decided to focus on just getting ready to move to Columbia and getting myself set up there.
Then it got interesting.
Having to drive your own mother to the emergency room for post-surgery complications and not knowing if she’ll be okay is one hell of a way for life to slap you in the face. I’ve heard plenty from a couple people close to me about their own stories of losing people really close to them… Here I was all nervous and fearful of the worst. In the end, things turned out alright. A couple days in the hospital and things went back to normal. But that first night, having to drop plans and drive to the E.R., was one of the most stressful I’ve had in ages.
And what happened a couple days after that? Oh yeah. Four-hundred thousand people lost power after a scary afternoon storm. Including us. Eh, lucky for us the power came back by 2am the following morning.
The town was a wasteland for the next couple days… Driving around at night made me think of those zombie movies–entire long stretches of Lindbergh, a source of unnecessarily bright lights on used car lots and strip malls, were as black as the night. The number of stoplights that were dark was astonishing. It was pure chaos, but in an orderly fashion.
Power went out again Friday morning as more storms took out power, this time hitting north county the hardest. More chaos. No ice or water to be found within half an hour of here. Gas stations running out of ice, then water, then food, then gas. I’d say it sucked, but the heat wasn’t too bad from the basement, the radio and the family kept me entertained.. You really learned to reduce yourself to wanting just the things you needed. Who knew a shower by candlelight was so good? And the lack of hearing other people’s air conditioning units, the lack of hearing anything electronic in the house had me sleeping quite well. And the view that night was the most amazing I’d ever seen in all the years I’d lived here.
Fate itself seemed to slap me in the face a few times. Probably not to hurt me, but perhaps as a measure to make me wake up and snap out of whatever funk it is I’m in.
Power came on Saturday night. I was actually sort of sad when it happened. I was actually enjoying it. In spite of chaotic conditions and without the comforts that we usually take for granted, I was enjoying it. It was like I’d started living another life all of a sudden, until the electricty snapped us back into this life we call reality.
And maybe that’s the funk I was in. This life, this reality here, living back home with my folks here in Florissant… Eh, I suppose it’s just not for me anymore. Not quite enjoying it, and I’m not quite myself if I don’t like where I’m at. I mean, I love my folks and hanging out with the people back here is great… Perhaps I’m just too used to being on my own now. I love this place a lot actually, and I’m going to miss the people here once I’m gone again, but it seems that everything I’ve got going for my life is two hours away from this place.
Don’t feel bad, at least you don’t disappear from the face of the Earth for weeks to months at a time. Heh. That was a good night, I never got to look up and admire the stars - I had to work, naturally.
Loved seeing the long back ups at all the gas stations in North county along Lindberg, seeing half the businesses totally black. Kinda eerie but serene at the same time.