Grateful for the Mayhem

Tonight I’m enjoying a Woodchuck hard cider while sitting in my former room mate’s living room for the second night.

You see, last night I was evacuated from my apartment complex. One of my neighbors experienced a series of electrically-related fires (i.e. 2), one taking place on Saturday and one last night.  Last night the fire department came. After things quieted down a bit, I went back into my apartment and resumed whatever it was I was doing. Some time later, but at 8:45 p.m., I received a knock at the door. It was a police officer. He told me that the power would be turned off to all of the apartments in my general area of the apartment complex at 9:00 p.m., and that I needed to find another place to stay. Fifteen-ish minutes to find a place to stay for me, my English bulldog, and my cat. No problem…

Fortunately my former room mate was able to take us all in on short notice, and we’ve all been crashing on her couch.

I’ve been pretty annoyed and amazed at my apartment complex managers at the lack of organization regarding the initial evacuation, the distribution of knowledge about the details of the evacuation, and the allowance of people back onto the property. (The problem was fixed by 4 p.m. today; however, we aren’t allowed back on property until tomorrow. Well, I guess we could go back, but we’d have no power…)

I’ve been grumbling plenty, as my former room mate can attest. But I’ve also realized I’ve been grumbling, perhaps overly so, so I want to take a moment to write some of the things I’m thankful for in regards to this event.

1) I’m grateful I have a friend I can call to help me in an emergency.
2) I’m thankful I was able to reach out to a friend. In another time, I wouldn’t want to impose, so I probably would have stayed in a hotel or something…
3) I’m thankful I have reliable transportation. Many of my neighbors don’t have cars.
4) I’m thankful I am healthy in mind and body (aside from my cold). Some of my neighbors are in wheelchairs or are otherwise disabled.
5) I’m grateful I’ve experienced no material losses in all of this. My apartment could have caught fire…
6) I’m grateful I can recognize what matters. When I first left the house I took: the dog, the cat, food and medicine for the dog and cat, a change of clothes, toothpaste/toothbrush, deodorant, hairbrush, and my laptop (save the dissertation!!!). The only other material possession that I really cared about was my guitar, which I picked up when I went back to the apartment for more clothes today.
7) I’m grateful for my pup and kitty, who have both been with me through a ton of tough times. This is but a speed bump, if that, but I’m still glad to have them along for the ride.
8) I will be very grateful to sleep in my own bed tomorrow night.