What We Learned When the Power Went Out

By Stacy LaMorte

Like many people in the Greater New Orleans area, our power was out during Hurricane Zeta for several days; easily the longest power outage we have ever experienced as a family other than Katrina.

Our power stayed on through most of the storm and then, in the last 10 minutes: BLACKOUT! The next three days were an adventure.

We are lucky enough to have a gas stove and a gas hot water heater, so those things made life much easier than others had it. Also, the fact that we had some of the most beautiful weather that Louisiana has to offer after the storm didn’t hurt!

I think our kids learned a lot about being prepared and thinking ahead during this blackout. They learned that it is no fun to cook in the dark, so getting dinner prepared early is a good idea. They learned that our neighbors are awesome and that when our palm tree came down, it is good to have a chainsaw.

They also learned how much they rely on electronics to entertain themselves. We had limited charging abilities, so cell phone usage was down. We played card games, board games, sat around the fire pit and went for walks as a family. They helped us clean storm debris, and we talked to neighbors we usually only wave to from our cars while we were outside.

Life is going to give us hurricanes. God wants to know how we are going to choose to handle them and what we will learn from them.

What did you and your family learn from the storm?