Growing up some of my favorite books were the "Little House on the Prairie" series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. The author and I had the same name. As a third-grader, that was enough to pique my interest.
It grew beyond that as I read with fascination about the family's adventures and their day-to-day life. Building your own house, cooking over a fireplace, reading by candlelight. Even as an adult, I love to learn about life in those times. Perhaps that led to my many years as a Girl Scout and leader. The camping trips with dinner cooked over a bonfire, sleeping bags in tents and only the dim light of a lantern guiding you to the latrine.
Ahh, romanticize I did and, maybe still do, just a little. That is until a dose of reality hits you upside the head. Like the one we got in July at our lake house in Michigan after some nasty storms. It was the end of a two-week family vacation, and the only ones left at the house with me was my son and his family, which includes children - ages 3, 2 and 11 months. The power went out about 11 p.m. when we were all in bed. The house became eerily silent. No whir of the air conditioning or fans, no white noise from the sound machines, no night lights, no nothing.
I fell asleep with the hope that in the morning all would be back to normal. Well, it was not. It would not be until some 36 hours later. And just like the family on the prairie, all we had was daylight. Oh, and cars to charge our phones. So, a little different than the prairie - but still, we were roughing it. The microwave and toaster were out of commission. The gas stove became our "bonfire." Let's hear it for gas stoves! The refrigerator was almost empty save for some eggs and hot dogs, so meal planning was easy, anyway.
And how did the kids react? The 2-year-old kept shouting his favorite show into the TV voice remote to no avail. But we adults rose to the occasion. Sticker books, crayons, Legos and a trip to the library (where they had power, so, again, not really a "prairie" situation). It was still hard! The day wound down and we congratulated ourselves on our perseverance.
Then it was bedtime, and we realized the sound machines didn't have batteries and were no good to us. If any of you have children or grandchildren of this generation, you know that none of them sleep without a sound machine. Crisis averted - you can get white noise on your phone. Which we had been charging in our cars. So, sleep we did.
The power did come back eventually, but only after the kids were gone. We had survived! Granted it was not life on the prairie. But it was our "prairie."
Is a generator in our future? Nope. I think it's good to test your "prairie" skills now and then. But maybe that is just the Girl Scout in me talking.
- Laura LaPlaca of Hinsdale is a former contributing columnist. Readers can email her at [email protected].
