Now the title of this blog may lead you to think we live in a very large house. You would be wrong. Our little country home if 30′ X 30′. It consists of a walk out basement and a second floor containing the bedrooms, a bathroom and my office.
How in heavens name can one get lost in such a tiny house? Let me explain.
It was one of those stormy evenings. The television was continually interrupting its programming to update the viewer on the movement of a potentially dangerous storm.
Kathie and I were prepared as we sat with our flashlights in our laps watching television that was threatening to lose satellite connection at any moment.
I had also gone into our garage and opened the door to our root cellar in case strong winds or tornadoes forced us to leave the comfort of our recliners and seek shelter.
We were being cautious senior citizens! 🙂
Suddenly without warning the house became dark, really dark. Being the retired science teacher that I am I calmly remarked, “The electricity is off.”
I’m not sure but I think I heard Kathie mutter, “Duh, how did you come up with that conclusion?”
It was eleven pm and sitting in recliners in a pitch black house was going to get boring very quickly so I suggested we head upstairs to bed.
Luckily we had a bottle of water and flashlights so we could brush our teeth and take the required prescription drugs before hitting the sack.
Falling asleep was not difficult in a very, very dark house. I had drifted off for what seemed like just a few minutes when I hear Kathie calling my name.
Groggily I roused myself out of bed and replied, “Where are you?”
“I went to the bathroom and I can’t find my way back!” (I’m still wondering how she found the bathroom in the first place?)
“Now how ridiculous is that,” I thought. The bathroom is only down a short hall. How could she be lost.
That’s when I made the fatal mistake. I didn’t reach over to the nightstand and grab my flashlight. Instead I went in search of her voice.
Slowly I moved through the darkness calling to her and reaching out my hand to grasp her’s.
After several calls back and forth our hands met and we were reunited. That’s when the fun really started.
You see as we stumbled through the pitch black darkness we both had lost any idea of where we were except that we were holding hands. Our comprehension of directions had been lost.
I was leading as I grasped Kathie’s hand. With my free hand I was feeling objects trying to get a bearing on where we were.
I found a bookshelf but we had three bookshelves in three different areas of the hallway.
Walking slowly and dragging Kathie behind me I took a step and my foot didn’t land on a solid floor. It was empty space. That’s when I realized I was about to take a trip down the stairway to the main floor!
I was unnerved by nearly stepping into a fast trip down the stairway so I slowly backed up and began to crawl rather then walk in the inky blackness.
It was difficult to hold on to one’s spouse’s hand, crawl on all fours yet try to feel objects that would be recognizable in the hallway.
We kept wandering and bumping into things but never being able to get north, south, east and west in the correct order. 🙁
We must have been traveling in circles because my right hand that was solidly on the floor suddenly was suspended in air. We had rediscovered the stairway to the main floor and for the second time escaped a tumbling descent to the living room. 🙂
Would a GPS have worked in this situation?
I’m not sure how long we wandered. It seemed like an hour but I’m sure it couldn’t have been more than ten to fifteen minutes.
Suddenly my groping hand felt something very familiar. It felt like a mattress. I investigated further and sure enough there was evidence of a sheet and a comforter.
We had discovered a bed! Now the question was which bed was it. Was it our bed or the bed in the bedroom next door?
We were so exhausted we really didn’t care. Both of us struggled climbing off the floor onto the welcome, restful mattress.
Early that morning the electricity came back on and we were thankful to discover ourselves sleeping in our rightful bed. The lost had been found! 🙂
The big take away I got from this horrifying experience was to always have that flashlight with you during those black out situations.
In fact I may just have an idea to become an intrapreneur and start a new business.
I’m going to design a new style of underwear with a pocket that contains a flashlight. I can picture it being advertised on Amazon right now.
Get Mike’s “Let Your Little Light Shine” Underwear for all of those dark moments in your life! 🙂
What do you think? 🙂 If you’re interested contact me. I might be able to get you onto the ground floor and you can a become a major share holder.
Meanwhile I’m going to get a pair of my underwear and do some experimenting on ‘pocket designs’. 🙂
Until next time.
