THE POWER PROBLEM
it all started about two weeks ago when we got a flyer in our mailbox announcing our neighborhood's upcoming meeting with an xcel energy representative. the flyer went on to say that xcel expects each area to have no more than 3 power outages per year, while our neighborhood exceeds that limit by two to three dozen. the flyer stated that our situation was "unacceptable" and that it was very important that there be a representative from every household at the meeting.
ben, my dad, and i were all interested in how things would turn out, so all three of us went to the meeting. i guess you could say we represented our block; we have elderly neighbors on either side, none of which could attend the meeting. our family is used to outages. when we hear there's a storm coming, we get the candles out. it's routine. last year we bought a small generator to run the freezer and sump pump because our basement was flooding so often. but these sorts of things are bound to happen when you live on a swamp and your power lines run through bredesen park.
the meeting got off to a rocky start. they decided to begin by having an engineer explain how the power gets from xcel to our neighborhood. after two minutes, a woman in the back yelled, "sorry to be blunt, but....we don't really care. tell us how you're going to solve this problem." many agreed, but someone said to let the man speak, so he continued. i really enjoyed the little lesson. i think it was necessary to understand how the power works to understand why it's such a problem where we live. basically, we're at the end of the line. the power goes all the way down tracy to vernon, down vernon to olinger, and from olinger up through the backyards to arbour. the family living across the street from us get their power right from tracy--they lose power once or twice a year, tops.
during the meeting, my brother, dad, and i realized that you can hardly compare our situation to anyone who lives on olinger circle. they lose power for three or four days at a time (as opposed to 20 hours or so for us). most of them have lost a great deal of time and money cleaning up flooded basements and throwing away spoiled food. i understand their frustration; still, i think some of their comments were a bit ridiculous. for example, one frustrated customer stated, "my goodness, it feels like we're living in a third world country!"
i guess the reaction was what really got me. instead of snickering and eyes opening wide, almost everyone in the room nodded and made some sort of verbal agreement. three cell phones and much arguing later, the xcel energy representatives proposed their plan: to move up next year's tree trimming to this month and put our neighborhood on a two or three year trimming cycle rather than the four year cycle we're currently on. many customers left angry. a lot of them refused to believe that the trees were the problem and said they wouldn't be satisfied until everything--the lines, poles, transformers, etc--were replaced with brand new ones. unlikely. others, when asked what should be done instead of trimming the trees, just yelled, "SOLVE THE PROBLEM!"
the tree trimming is scheduled to start july 28th. there will be a follow-up meeting sometime thereafter. it's hard to capture the silliness of it all right now, but perhaps i'll tape the next meeting....it was like an old school town hall meeting. i don't know how else to describe it. senseless bickering. they do what they can.
THE MILK DILEMNA
our milkman went on strike. well, he did along with all the other meyer bros. dairy truck drivers. the company that recently bought meyer brothers renegotiated the drivers' contracts, removing the retirement plan agreement and decreasing benefits and wages. our driver is a good friend of the family. he comes by every year before school starts to chat. we make him cookies and leave them by the fridge. he comes twice a week in the wee hours of the morning, so we don't usually get to see him. when i was little he'd come at 7:30am, so we'd all get to fool around for awhile before school. i remember this one time he tried to stuff me in the mailbox and then pretended that he was going to take me with him in his truck. he's fun. anyway....the drivers went around to their customers and asked them to stop buying meyer bros. milk until the regular drivers are back to put pressure on the company. we agreed....after all, johnnie had been delivering our milk for more than 10 years.
the decision had consequences. that night, ben, josie, and i went to two grocery stores to buy four different kinds of milk: kemps in a carton, kemps in a jug, land o lakes in a carton, and byerly's "in the dark" (that means an opaque jug). when we got home, we had a taste test. we liked byerly's the best, but none of them compared to meyer bros.--like i said, we're serious about our milk.
johnnie called today to let us know that the strike is over. he'll be back at our house tomorrow. my nanny kids, who have heard the story, wanted to throw a party. i laughed, then informed them that johnnie comes at 4 in the morning. instead, we made some bars and a welcome back sign.
such drama.
drama in suburbia.
the mail system has always fascinated me. there's something to be said for getting a real letter in the mail--or even just handed to you. it's something real, something tangible, something....something that has been on an adventure. it was sealed, stamped, and transported. it was handled by many different people and somehow found its way to your mailbox in just a few days. our mail comes late--not until almost five. sometimes i'm home early enough for the mail to come and i get to it first....the sorting, the opening....it's exciting for me.
today i got a package from amazon. well. ben did. but we'd combined our orders to save on shipping, so i opened it as soon as it came. i think i'd like working for ups...or fed ex...or usps...i would guess that there are certain qualifications for those jobs. they get to drive trucks, after all. maybe it will just have to be something i dream about. bringing people packages, i mean.
i've had an emotional day.
josie's leaving for camp tomorrow--noah left for mexico this morning. the last few days, i haven't been able to be the sister i'm always trying to be. i took josie shopping today and i couldn't raise her spirits. she's really nervous about going to camp. i knew this. but i just couldn't do it. i struggled--feeling empty but extremely heavy all at once.
i wallowed in that feeling for a good part of the day. there was no one at home to call me on it, so i continued, requesting, expecting, almost demanding mercy. i went to church with josie tonight. the second reading was from the 2nd corinthians. 2nd corinthians is a letter written by a man named paul to the people of corinth. corinth was the las vegas of biblical times--maybe not as glamourous as las vegas--maybe reno. anyway, the corinthians were known for drinking, prostitution, and infidelity. paul's letters were read to the people of corinth so that they might know how to walk the narrow path, so to speak.
paul seems to do a lot of self reflection in his letters as well. it's almost as if he was writing a letter and he thought of something he needed to work out for himself and it was easier to do on paper...and then he decided not to cross it out. for example:
7To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
i don't know exactly what paul meant by a thorn in his flesh...but as i listened, it became clear to me that i spend a great deal of time hoping and praying that my own "thorns" will be removed when maybe i should delight in them instead. i've seen that strength before...but i always manage to forget about it when i'm looking for pity.
i think the greatest part about paul's letters is that they don't require the audience to be church-going. the corinthians certainly weren't. it might have been paul's hope that they be transformed into churchgoers, but he wasn't expecting people to come to the text and already be an expert. i think that's why a lot of churches--particularly modern churches--have trouble reaching postmodern kids. they answer questions with out of context bible verses and convince themselves that they're making sense. maybe that was too harsh.
on a similar note, i'm still thinking about peace. it's all tied together...that is, my emotional day and the people i meet and the books that i read. tonight it was a line from a movie:
"you cannot find peace by avoiding life."
i just finished watching the hours. it was amazing. i cried--much more than i thought i would. it was sad, but it was also beautiful. three women, all from different times, linked together...and not just by a book (a book that i'm now determined to finish after putting it aside months ago) but also by the words they used, the way they handled food, and the way they woke up in the morning.
speaking of waking up in the morning.
goodnight.