A Safe Shout-Out

Hi all! I hope this post finds most of you now safe, warm, and with power. It's certainly been quite the week for those of us in Massachusetts! Who would've thought when they predicted the snow for the weekend that it would turn into a week-long power outage for some places? Although I can't complain too much as I was at Cape Cod during the heart of the storm Saturday night, I was certainly kept in the loop from texting my friends and family all weekend. I was shocked that nearly all of them, ranging from Worcester to Athol, were all under the same predicament: powerless.

This week felt like a police chase, never knowing how much longer we could go without school. It was probably the first October Vacation in history! And I think it was probably one of the best vacations yet. Yes, I went without power for a day or two after coming home from the Cape. My family and I camped out in the living room by the fire place, my brother Owen and I on the couch and my mom and stepdad Michael on a futon mattress. It gave me the opportunity to wear those crazy Happy Feet sneaker slippers they sell (or used to sell rather, I'm not sure if they still do) with the thickest pair of fuzzy socks I could find. Going through my drawers for long-sleeves and pajama pants and sweatshirts, only in the morning did I actually see what long-sleeve I picked out; I was just determined to get warm as quickly as possible. I braided Mom's hair (or tried to with her many layers) as the rest of them played Go Fish. After, Owen found one of his old scary story books and read them by the one flashlight in the house. (Seriously, we have one flashlight in the house.) We also have a crankable lamp, but considering 100 cranks lasts about 5 minutes, we gave up on that pretty quickly.

This vacation gave everyone, or me at least, the opportunity to catch up. Not on laundry or cleaning the bathrooms or even my homework, which I needed the Internet for. It gave me the opportunity to catch up on life, on things I had been putting on hold for months. Like reading, my writing, and just plain family time. And I'm not talking about family time as in all being in the same room absorbed in our own worlds, Mom lost in the Provincelands with Mary Oliver, Michael grading college essays, Owen trying to become the new Fruit Ninja on his iPad, and me texting three friends at once. Family time as in talking. What else are we going to do when the power's out? Cell phones are dead, the Internet is down, everyone's scattered across Massachusetts trying to find a refuge. All we have is each other.

This week, I caught up with friends I hadn't seen in awhile, and I could really enjoy them. No homework hanging heavily over my shoulder, no nothing. It was like being in the middle of summer again; my time seemed endless. My friend and I made Play-Doh, for goodness sake! (I'll post directions for that separately.) I feel refreshed, recharged from this week. I hope all of you do, too!  I'm excited to go back to school Monday and hear about all the things people did while the power was out. One of my friends said they played musical chairs, another said he was in Starbucks for 7 hours. Please feel free to share your stories!

Sweet Dreams,
Megan ;)

P.S. I wish I had some pictures to post! I promise, I will try to do better with taking some of my own versus just getting them off Google Images!