In looking at the bright side…..

Monday night brought Chicagoland the “storm of all storms”…at least for our area. Let me start from the beginning.

Monday started off as every typical Monday does. Go to work, go to the gym, come home. I mean, sure, it was raining that morning when I got off the train and the wind was a bit stronger than normal (it turned my umbrella inside out as I was crossing the River), but it had cleared up by the time I left work. When I went to the gym the sky was looking pretty clear, and after my hour-and-a-half workout it was dark but I didn’t notice anything abnormal. So I went home and put my dinner in the oven, washed the dishes and sat down and watched Big Brother from On Demand while I was waiting for my dinner to cook. And then it got weird.

I saw a bright flash of lightning and heard thunder boom and shake the whole house. Immediately following that the lights began to dim and the oven timer went off. I walked into the kitchen, grabbed my food and as soon as I shut the oven door the power went off. I’m thinking to myself…wow, I don’t usually lose power this must be a bad one.

I find a flashlight and look out my front door. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The light from my flashlight showed a tree blocking my neighbor’s front door as well as part of a tree laying in the street between our two houses. Oh my gosh. I was officially in freak-out mode. I tried calling R and couldn’t get a signal from my cell. I tried texting him and it took forever to go through. I called my neighbor’s girlfriend and told her to call him (my neighbor) cuz the tree was across his stairs. He runs over and tells me not to go in my backyard because my tree came down and pulled down my power lines. Oh my gosh. It was insane.

Finally, after an hour of trying to call ComEd, my dad calling to check on me, my ex-husband coming to see my damage, the insane storm with the hurricane winds, I laid down in bed and tried to get some sleep….only to be woken up a couple hours later by ANOTHER storm…this one with the sirens going off. I stayed in bed and said, well, if there’s tornado just kill me because I am NOT going in the basement.

Now, 5 days later, I still don’t have any electricity. ComEd informed me that I’m not a priority because the rest of my neighborhood has their power restored and, since I’m just one resident without power, I am placed last on the list. I have lost $450 worth of food. My neighbor is running an extension cord from his house to mine so that I was able to clean out the fridge and get some new food. State Farm has been amazing. My claim on my food loss is already being processed. They gave me the go-ahead to have an electrician out to install a new box without having to wait for an adjuster to come out. The adjuster is coming out tomorrow to check out my roof and the rest of the damage to my house.

It’s very frustrating not having any power, but at least now I have food in the house and am able to cook some because the stove top works as long as I light it manually. I’m able to charge my cell phone at work. Tonight, after the gym, I’m going to take my clothes to the laundromat. That should be fun…I haven’t had to do that in years! I’ve been reading books in bed using a flashlight, and lots of candles are keeping the house smelling nice, as well as giving some light. I think the worst part of it all is that I’m incredibly lonely without my kids. They’ve been with their dad the whole week since he has power and I don’t know exactly what damage the house has sustained. But that’s ok. It could be worse. The best part? I’m still not smoking!