Since I'm "acting" president of Happyland Elementary PTA for one more meeting, I had to concoct some sort of agenda. Apparently the school went nut-free this year, which caused me to laugh out loud while I contemplated how to phrase this in the agenda. "Nutless?" That sounded about right to me. "Happyland Elementary is nutless." Heh. A day later I got the first phone call from an angry parent--Why did the school go nut-free? How many kids does this affect? My daughter will not eat meat, nuts are a major part of her diet. And while I agreed that no, I've never read of anyone keeling over of a nut reaction, I do know other districts have gone nut-free, but gee, lady, this isn't my issue because I've pulled Team Testosterone and am sending them to the parochial school down the road. Talk about nuts, right?
Meanwhile, I got an email from my friend Lauren, in Baltimore. Her power finally went on post-Irene. I reflected on the damn inconvenience of no power and went ahead making big plans for Day 2 of school. I had laundry running, tomatoes simmering, the laptop booted up and then this mom called me. Forty minutes later I hung up (finally!) to wrap up the mess in my kitchen so I could tackle the rest of my list. That's when the alert sounded on the radio. I pulled in my wash, kenneled Jax and battened down the hatches. I'd just returned to the kitchen when everything went black.
Day 2 of school and there I sat until 1:30 without power, all of my plans down the toilet. Only now I couldn't even flush my toilet. No electricity. No internet. No stove. No washing machine. The wind raged, the rain poured, the dog howled a little. I watched my sunflowers crash flat to the ground, crushing the tomato plants. I watched the pergola slide across the patio and topple into the pool. I tried to read by candlelight and worried about the poor teachers stuck in their classrooms with all of those children but no lights. I felt whole new empathy for those folks on the east coast whose power went out for days. My inconvenience really seems paltry by comparison.
I ate Nutella on bread (no toaster) and wished I could have hot coffee (oh, the hardship!). I read. I texted with my BFF Sarah who was stuck in her classroom while snow plows cleared the roads of downed trees and power lines. I took a little nap and read a lot. Bored on the second day of the school year. That's a new record. That's nuts.
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