Black out!! Four hours, NO power! 😱🔦

Last night, I was writing a blog post reviewing the movie The Shape of Water, when all of a sudden,there was a click and suddenly, all the power went out! At first, I waited to see if the power would come back on on its own, but after a few minutes, it became apparent the light wasn't going to come back any time soon. 

When the power went out, I was thrown into a intense blackness that seemed to swallow me whole, something that was made even more dreadfully awful by both the late time of day and the thick curtains that only made it even harder to see. It was at this moment, as I struggled to even see my own hand in front of my face, that I remembered looking at these good-sized, battery-powered lanterns at work that were on sale for fifty percent off :/ I'd almost bought a pair for me and my husband, but decided against it, since hurricane season was over and figured there was no longer any need for one. The irony now seemed to smack me in the face and laugh at me, and I had only myself to blame....😓😓😓

With no lanterns or emergency lights to keep me out of the dark, I was at first, a little unsure of how I was going to comfortably wait out the next one to two hours (hopefully). Then, I remembered my love of candles and the almost dozen candles sitting in my room, ready for action :) Bath and Body Works had recently had a big sale on candles that I'd taken advantage of and along with the cheap Yankee Candles at work ($10 for a giant glass jar candle!!!), I had more than enough candles to light the entire house easily. The only possibly bad thing was since they're scented candles, I didn't want to mix any scents that didn't go together; I quickly picked a big french lavender candle, which lit up most of the area closest to me. I also picked a birchwood scented candle for the doorway, a honeysuckle-scented candle for the entrance way, and a peony-scented candle for the far side of the room, just for comfort sake--no one likes to sit in the dark. The candles worked together to light up the entire room and all of their scents mixed wonderfully together and created a great smell that reminded me of a field of flowers 💐💐💐 :) A more than welcome comfort.

When the light had originally gone off, I'd  noticed that my phone was about to die and realised how bad it would be if the power wasn't back on later that night or the next day. While I'd forgotten to charge my phone, I'd had my laptop plugged in and it had a full battery!! Talk about lucky!! I plugged my phone into my laptop and charged it :) unfortunately, it was very slow and I realised it was going to take at least an hour or two before it got anywhere close to fifty percent charged and would have to find something to occupy myself with that didn't need too much light or any electricity. 

Recently, I'd watched a three-part documentary over romance throughout the eras, and how it's shaped literature, music and culture, and in it, they'd mentioned famous romance novels through the ages, once of which was Jane Eyre. Since it'd sounded so interesting in the documentary, I decided to get a copy and since opening it, I've been completely hooked! So, given at least an hour to fill, what better way to busy myself than with this wonderful book 😊😊😊

With the light and scent adding a little comfort, I settled into Jane Eyre and started to feel a little at ease, when I began to hear loud thuds, bangs and booming coming from outside my home (at the time, I couldn't believe no one else was woken up from these loud noises). It was unfortunately, at the same time as a very intense and terrifying scene in the book began to unfold, which only magnified the shocks of fear that overcame me as I heard the sounds that seemed much too close for comfort. As the sounds got louder and louder, I went and got some of my stuffed animals to surround me and give me a sense of security--as soft and fluffy as possible. 

After quickly going around and checking that all the locks were secure, I took my

spot back with my stuffed animals and tried even harder to find comfort in my book and the candles. Suddenly, there was a deafening boom, almost like an explosion and a massive banging from right outside the very window illuminated by the honeysuckle-scented candle! All at once, I could no longer push my fear down and jumped up as quickly as possible, and without meaning to or even realising it at the time, I screamed loudly and ran from the room into the bathroom, slamming and locking the door behind me. 

The sounds of my screams and the slamming of the door, woke my mother who woke my father, who both ran into the living room, first concerned and then angry to learn what had caused the interruption of their sleep. Both of them immediately went back to sleep, and in less than five minutes, there was another loud boom and the power was off again.

I could hear men talking to each other and saw a flashing orange light outside from the bathroom window, the only window left uncovered, and decided to try to once again find comfort in my little reading spot. Time seemed to go by much faster this time and although the noises outside were unnerving and scared me despite my best attempts to pretend they didn't, I was able to ignore these feelings and read in relative peace. As the current place in the book was wonderfully thrilling and exciting, it only helped to pass the time as seemingly rapid pace. And after what seemed like only an hour, but I later found out were closer to three, the lights once again came back on, this time without any loud banging or booming and although uncertain at first, they stayed on for the rest of the night.