The Perfect Wrap-Up

April 2, 2024

I don’t mind telling you that I don’t diligently do spring and fall housecleaning like my mother did. Most women (maybe some men?) did so back then—almost like a religious rite. I remember Mom (maybe with Dad’s help) squished some old mattresses through upstairs windows out onto our porch roof for airing out in the spring, and using the old mattress beater to help with that routine. (You could say I’m so old I stink.)

But, I had planned a semi-surprise 70^th birthday party for my dear husband this year and all of the children and grandchildren were coming to our house, along with some aunts and uncles and cousins. We burn wood all winter and use a humidifier to keep the air breathable inside, but both things together make A. Lot. Of. Dust. And dusting! I do love to “entertain” but as the years add up, it becomes more and more of a chore to clean everything in the house. (Too many things!) 

I tend to do the best cleaning when guests are coming, right? Why waste your energy dusting when no one else will see inside your house for a month or more? So I planned to dust and clean a room each day prior to the Saturday night meal and party at our house.

It is rewarding to see things sparkle, making you feel very good. When the guests started arriving and then when the surprise guests—some from another state—arrived, it made my husband feel very happy. And all the hard work felt worth it.

The meal went well, people enjoyed getting reconnected, one teenager even came. I think there were about 29 of us all together, packed into our kitchen/dining room/living room area combined. Catching up, laughter, some serious conversations, a few guffaws all helped make the evening roll along beautifully. Our 14-month-old granddaughter was hustled off to bed early (suffering from a cold and fever) and she sweetly drifted off to sleep.

At last we brought out the birthday cake for Stuart to blow out seven little candles, and guests could choose from Stuart’s favorite Arnold Felcher cake (check out the recipe here), homemade apple pie, or a darling and fun Easter “lamb” cake brought by two of our guests. Kids went outside or to the basement to play and multiple conversations around the room rose to the rafters.

Most guests left by 8 to 8:30 and then a loud BOOM came from somewhere outside! Some of us thought it was someone shooting off a gun or perhaps firecrackers. But our lights all went out. I was hoping desperately that they would quickly blink back on. My son-in-law who has worked with many things electrical announced that he was sure it was a transformer that had blown, somewhere. One website explains this: “Utility companies transmit electricity at high voltages across overhead or buried wires, and a transformer ‘steps down’ this voltage to make it suitable for household use. When a transformer fails, however, it can fail spectacularly, resulting in a fire or explosion.” 

Well, when you have kids in the house who are needing to go to bed and use the bathroom and you have a country septic system (no city system out here), you know you can’t flush stools unless you have buckets of water on hand to do the necessities. We managed that detail for the cousins who needed to go to bed. We do happen to have big tanks in the basement where we can draw water for such necessities. Especially in an area where our particular electrical system seems very prone to going out, as often as every couple months. Too often. We lit some candles that were handy and my husband took a large flashlight and cast it’s beam up through one of the lights on our counter, which made a temporary fairly bright light for us.

So even though the kitchen and dining area was a huge mess of plates and pans and utensils, we couldn’t go about cleaning things up. I snuck leftovers into the fridge and freezer even though my husband cautioned not to open those doors too much, in the event that the outage would go on for hours, or worse, days. One grandson observed that houses in the nearby woods still had their electricity.

We adults found our way out to the deck overlooking the countryside while trucks went up and down the area driveways and roads trying to pinpoint the culprit for this outage. It was dark outside, and not too chilly, and for the next 40-50 minutes we just chatted, wondering how long the lights would be out. We mostly put down our cell phones, conserving their energy for anything that might be really important. We reminisced, told jokes and stories, sat quietly for minutes on end, wondering when and if the lights would come back on so we could clean up and get ready for bed ourselves.

It was quite heavenly, and a marvelous way to catch my breath after hustling most of the day—and week—to make sure we had all the foods in place and decorating done. The cool night air handed us a peaceful balm, too rare these days.

Almost too soon, the electricity came back on and the elves set to work washing up dishes, putting away pots and pans, wiping counters and tables clean.

Not a bad way to end a busy, happy evening with friends and family. My heart was moved with thanksgiving and oh yes, the next morning was Easter morning. Thanks be to God.

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Have you had enjoyable times when the electricity goes out?

Did you ever beat mattresses with a thing that looked like this? I told you I was old (older than my husband)!

Comment here, share, whatever!