The Night The Lights Went Out In Cotswold

Only 10 days into our lives as parents, Brooks and I now truly realize that dealing with an unexpected ordeal in life is amplified ten-fold once you have children - make that twenty-fold, with twins. Not more than 30 minutes after I got home from my first day back at work yesterday a wicked thunderstorm blew into our neighborhood and opened the sky up with high winds, intense lightning and heavy sheets of rain. Then, the power went out, right as I sat down in the glider trying to rock Ike to sleep. Uh oh. A 95-degree day and a humid night is not a good formula for a comfortable, cool house without electricity or a working air conditioner. On top of that, our new night nurse was scheduled to start that night. Sure enough, 15 minutes after the power went out, she pulled into our driveway and informed us that there are two trees down on our neighborhood meaning we were looking at at least half a night without power.

Normally, Brooks and I would have tried to make due with our unfortunate circumstances and would have spent the night at our house despite the lack of air conditioning. However, with nine-day old babies, I had to shift into MacGyver mode and hatch a quickly-formulated escape plan that would ensure their comfort. As it turned out, my parents were out of town, meaning there would be plenty of room for Brooks, her mom, the twins and our night nurse, especially since the house was already kid-friendly thanks to Grainger and Reston (crib, changing table, etc.). Perfect thinking! I immediately called my mom to get the alarm code to their house. Next, I loaded everyone's overnight bags into the car. Then, we packed up the pampers, bottles and formula and loaded Mason and Ike into their car seats, all the while braving a major deluge.

Together with the night nurse, we caravaned over to my parents' house, braving downed limbs and power lines along the way, and immediately made ourselves at home in the comfortable air conditioning. How ironic - my parents go out of town and we all end up seeking refuge at their house. Ahh, the benefits of living close to family! I'm hoping there will be plenty more benefits when my parents are in town, such as free babysitting when Brooks and I feel like going out to dinner alone.

To be honest, I did end up back at our house with Simba that night - in the dark - just to keep him company. Quite the "survivor" I am (yeah, right). We were finally jolted awake at 2:30 a.m. when the power came back on.