Open Spaces
Vol. 21.6
By John Vander Velden
June 25, 2021
Friends there are so many things I take for granted.
During the wee hours of Monday, I was reminded just how much I depend upon the
electricity delivered to my home and the farm as well, when I awoke in pitch
darkness. It had stormed off and on through the night, but it was near 2 AM when
the sound of the rain pelting the roof and window while the wind roared woke us.
Time for us to head for the basement.
I knew as soon as my brain caught up with my feet that
our electricity was out. It was the darkness...pitch dark. Now don’t get me
wrong I haven’t needed a night light for more than sixty years, but on typical
nights there is sufficient light bouncing off the dresser mirror and the walls
to prevent me from stumbling. For though the security light is some yards away,
with eyes adjusted to “night vision”, if that is a proper description, it might
seem dark, but it’s not DARK!
The intense wind passed and now armed with flashlight
and a LED camp lantern (we no longer go camping, but the lamp is a gem) we
returned to our bed.
But the lack of functioning light switches is only one
of things we take for granted which had abandoned our beck and call. The most
significant other thing is having running water. It takes power to pump the
water to our faucets. It takes power to pump the water out of the basement too.
We have a battery backup sump pump so for some hours that problem was covered,
that is if you could ignore the annoying alarm each time the battery pump was
called to operate. And of course the A/C was on sabbatical, and a rain storm
was not the time to raise the windows.
Then at 2:30 my phone rang. And rang. And rang. I stumbled
through the darkness again only half awake to hear some machine tell me that
the power was out in Walkerton and what was I planning to do about it. You see our church has an emergency monitoring
system, and I am the contact point. My fogged mind absorbed most of the
significance of the computer created message. I pushed #1 which meant “I would
do nothing”. And returned to my rest.
The battery sub pump screamed again.
None of these things are, for us so unusual. The power
blinks off often and hardly noticed, except all the clock flash their
annoyance. But a storm some years ago left us disconnected for five days. That
event was the stimulus for the purchase of a small generator that was tugged
out from storage Monday morning at first light.
A emergency generator is just that, and I guess I took
for granted it would work and did not praise the machine when it fired on the
third pull.
With the water pump energized and half the house electrified
we were fine, and the continual roar of the little machine only reinforced all
the things I juggled that most often operated unnoticed. Reminding me how my
world normally clicks forward so efficiently.
Midafternoon the power came back and with a sigh my
world returned to its unobtrusive normal. Then I only had to deal with the
limbs and felled trees....
Yet I am blessed for through it all, our home and
other structures went unscathed. It is my hope that life’s storms have not
overcome you. That perhaps you have, like Jackie and I, only been reminded of
the things we all take for granted. That the reminding has been only an
annoyance, and if the storms rumbled through your neighborhood that God’s hand
protected you and yours.
Now for just a bit of writer news. The editorial
revise proceeds, and I HAVE finished Part two (about halfway through the book).
Yaaaaaaaaaa! With COVID’s restrictions loosening, I have become bold enough to
open the possibilities of in person events. Yaaaaaaa, again! My visits with
area public libraries seem promising for the possible scheduling of events in
the months ahead. Two book store stops Tuesday offered some contact info so that
too is a step in the right direction.
So I remain optimistic. Feeling certain, given time,
this third book of the series will be completed. Also believing that before
fall I might be able to come face to face with the people that make this part
of my life’s journey worthwhile.
Running long once again I will wrap up this newsletter
with these words. God is love, and love is the strongest force in the universe.
I ask that you do your best to tap into that force, to love those whose lives
you share. Those in your immediate circle and those your circle touches. Know
kindness is never wasted. Compassion heals the broken. Caring make us human.
God bless you today and every day,
John
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/misty-creek-john-w-vander-velden/1127857944
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/elizabeths-journey-john-vander-velden/1135154629
