As I sit here writing this post I'm luxuriating at a hotel in my town based on the power outage created by the recent Nor'easter. The storm left us without power for THREE days. Three long days without light, heat, hot showers or much of anything other than reading by flashlight and twiddling our fingers. Woe is me. By day three mid-afternoon I had booked a hotel in order to watch the Oscars in a comfy environment. I don't think I've ever missed a single Academy Awards and this year would be no exception.
Did I mention we went without power for three days? Lol. I am not the roughing it type. I kept forgetting we had no power and I found myself attempting to flip on lights. I really started thinking about Laura Ingalls Wilder. How did she do it? And I had to face the realization that I am too dependent on my computer, my phone and television. And social media in general. Even though we lost power for three days, a huge tree fell in our yard and our neighbor's tree fell in the road and took down our power lines, we are blessed. No one was hurt or maimed by the falling trees. We roughed it out together as a family. I got in reading time. Finally! And we didn't lose our home as some people did with wildfires and hurricanes.
Blessings are everywhere, even when we feel frustrated and short-tempered about losing power for three days. I was not a happy camper.
Last spring we lost our chocolate lab, Cognac. He was 13.5 years old and he was the doggie love of my life. I can't imagine a better dog than Cognac. Even though our hearts were broken, we decided in August to get a black lab puppy. His name is Beau and he has been quite a handful. He kind of reminds me of the dog Marley in the movie "Marley and Me." Don't believe me? Check out what he did in the first few weeks after he arrived at our house. 😱
Time has mellowed Beau out a little bit and we couldn't love him any more than we do. I am grateful for a new chapter with this energetic bundle of love named Beau. We are blessed to have him. I've always said that dogs only want to love and be loved. This beautiful baby is no exception.
And I will forever be grateful for almost fourteen years with Cognac, my sweet prince.
This month my book "Her Alaskan Cowboy" came out. It's book 7 (the finale) in my Alaskan Grooms series. It's a tremendous blessing to be able to do the thing I love and to make readers happy. I'm humbled by all of the love I'm receiving for this book. I was thinking about all the years I dreamt of becoming an author but felt a little bit stuck and nervous that it might never happen for me. That's a powerful memory. It wasn't that long ago either. I need to stop and ponder this more often. How fortunate it is to live the dream of being a published author!
Even in the worst of times, we need to look at the big picture and count our blessings. Laugh a little harder. Stop fretting about the things we cannot change. Dance in the rain like Jolene Navarro recommends. So...even though our power is still out, I'm looking at the big picture. I'm at a nice hotel watching the Academy awards and drinking Coke Zero and eating pizza. It doesn't really get better than that!
Posts
Hugs on not having power, Belle. That's tough, but you've handled it bravely. You're right, we are all blessed beyond measure. Sometimes, it takes losing something like power to realize that.
ReplyDeleteHi Mary. I learned a lot these past days, mostly about patience and embracing the blessings. I think we are so used to having certain things and when we don't have them it can become a really frustrating experience. We did get our power back but another storm is coming tomorrow. EEEEK!
DeleteThank you for the great reminder to count our blessings and rejoice in the midst of hardship. I needed that today!
ReplyDeleteHi Christine. We are all so blessed. Sometimes it takes a wake-up call to reinforce it. My poor sister is still without power and we got ours back yesterday. We are blessed!
DeleteI hope your power is back. It is funny how we are so conditioned to having power that we go to turn on lights even though they won't work. Love the cover of your new book.
ReplyDeleteHi Merrillee. Yes!! We got our power back yesterday. I was over the moon about it. Three days is way too long, but I know others who are still without so my prayers are with them. It's not easy. And thanks. I love the cover also. The art department always hits a home run.
DeleteLOL, I needed this post. I spent 30 minutes chasing down my dog Lucy this morning when she escape out the front door. She's part husky and loves to run. Her favorite game: CHASE ME.
ReplyDeleteI watched part of the Oscars. Love the gowns.
Hi Pamela. WOW. I can relate. On the rare occasions when my dogs escape they love to send us on a merry chase. Glad you caught her. I also love the Oscar gowns. Watching the Oscars and staying at the hotel was a nice way to recover from the power outage. LOL
DeleteI'm thankful for a son with a big house who lives about 20 minutes from me! Whenever we have a power outage, we just show up at the son's house--and vice versa. As for dogs, we have 2 monsters, sisters, who couldn't be more different. Silky (85 lbs) can be trusted to walk anywhere with me without a leash, though we do that only on and around our property. Bean (60 lbs) will take off if given the slightest opportunity. She will eventually return, but she'll run her heart out until she's ready to come home. Frightens me every time.
ReplyDeleteHi, Arlene. That's such a blessing to have your son live so close to you. And vice versa. My sister lives about 35 minutes away but she also lost power...and still doesn't have it back. Your dogs sound wonderful and I love their names. I too feel nervous when the dogs are out running around because I'm always afraid they'll get hit by a car. Blessings!
DeleteBeau is so cute. It's hard losing a pet you've had for so long.
ReplyDeleteMargaret
Thanks, Margaret. He really is a strikingly beautiful dog. He really keeps us on our toes. Losing Cognac was very hard. I still think of him all the time. For almost fourteen years he was my daily companion as I worked out of the home. They become members of the family.
DeleteBeen there without power. Not fun at all, but we survive. I'm a little sad that The Alaskan Grooms series is ending. I love the pics of your fur babies. We have had cats. It's so hard when they go. We have one cat left. Sammy is 15. Our last cat was almost 20.
ReplyDeleteHi, Melissa. Great to see you here. Yes, you are so right. We do survive. And I am also sad about the series ending. In my head I haven't let go of it yet. And you are blessed to have had Sammy for such a long time. That's wonderful.
DeleteBelle, what a sweet post. And I too have been without, not power, but a a bathroom and running water for a solid week!!! We had to move into a motel while they dug up our back yard, changed out the sewer line, begged the neighbor to let us dig up 1/4 of their yard to tap into the main line of our old house, and hook it all up again. Oh! And we got the fun task of taking out a $14,000 loan to pay for it, too. Gotta love old houses! We had to change out the furnace from oil to gas in that house as well...another $7,000 bill. Have I mentioned how much I DETEST fixer-uppers??? And no, we don't live in that house anymore. Ironic that we fixed it up, then moved. HAHAHA! But yes, I do sympathize greatly with you.
ReplyDeleteWOW, Leigh. That's an expensive fix. You must have wanted to cry. I can't imagine roughing it for a week. You're one tough lady. We now have our power back. Phew. And we had another storm yesterday but didn't lose power. Blessings!! Blessings!! Gotta love the New England Living!
DeleteBelle, so glad the hotel still had power! Our kids live in the DC area and were without power. They were ready to head to a hotel when the lights came on! This has been a tough time for so many.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on all your wonderful stories and for making the Publisher's Weekly bestsellers list! Woot!
Hi Debby! We were very blessed to get a hotel room with power. Thanks so much for your congratulations. It's such a blessing to make that prestigious list.
ReplyDelete