Living Without Luxuries

by Fran McNabb

 

At this moment I’m sitting in the dark. No it’s not after sunset. It’s 4:35 in the afternoon but a transformer blew somewhere in the neighborhood, and we’re now without electricity. It’s not really dark, but with an overcast sky, it’s not exactly light.

No lights. No TV. No music and the worse part, no internet!

 It’s amazing how dependent we’ve become on those things that make our lives easy—things like electricity, hot and cold running water and a dwelling that is warm in the winter and cool in the summer. We take those things for granted until there is a day when we don’t have them.

 I remember thinking after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 there were people throughout the world who had to live day-in and day-out without the things that we were having to live without temporarily. After the storm, areas of the coastline from New Orleans to Mobile looked like a third-world country. Thousands of families lost their houses. My husband and I and the cat lived on our boat for seven weeks until the low winter tide prevented me from climbing onto the pier. We then moved into a borrowed RV and then a Fema trailer. We finally purchase an RV that became our home for the next year.

During those first few weeks our entire neighborhood sat in darkness. We carried flashlights and burned candles. Because stores were not open, we couldn’t buy necessities. We depended on out-of-town friends or we simply did without. I’m sure those residents who lived through Hurricane Sandy and other bad hurricanes did the same thing. Miraculously, we surprised ourselves and learned to do without the things we had become so accustomed to having.

Some good things came from those months. We learned that some material things were not
necessary. We got closer to our neighbors who today are like extended families, and we learned to appreciate each thing that was restored to our lives. We worked through the months of rebuilding
homes and furnishing them and we celebrated with each homeowner who put parts of their lives back together.

After several years most things got back to normal, and we went back to living the easy lives that we’re accustomed to. It takes days like today for me to remember those years.

Aaah.  My electricity just came back on. What a relief! I now can see what I’m typing. Moments like these are small reminders we need to appreciate the things we have. There are other people in this world who live without our luxuries every day.

Fran McNabb has lived along the Gulf Coast for almost her entire life and uses this setting in some of her romances. Hurricane Katrina destroyed their home, but she and her husband were not ready to leave their quiet bayou harbor. Today they still enjoy the beautiful displays that nature offers them. Visit her at  www.FranMcNabb.com or at mcnabbf@bellsouth.net. She loves to hear from her readers.