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January 19, 2007

Anne Kettenbrink: Bonding during power outage

Beautiful weather we’re having, isn’t it?

It is quite pretty with the ice and snow covering everything up and making it all sparkly, but it’s kind of hard to appreciate it when you’re freezing your you-know-what off because the power’s gone out and it’s 8 degrees inside your house.

“Roughing it” in this bad weather can give you a renewed appreciation for what our ancestors went through. I suppose they didn’t know they were “roughing it” at the time. Most likely, they were more prepared for winter storms, what with fireplaces in multiple rooms and coal-burning stoves.

And they didn’t know what they were missing in the way of cable, either.

I was one of the incredibly lucky people whose power never went off for any meaningful period of time, which was good seeing as I came down with a horrific cold just as the storm was intensifying. I have friends, though, whose power was off for several days.

As my house is always the gathering place for my group of buddies, I figured a power outage was a prime opportunity for a sleepover. With heat.

Not that it wouldn’t have been an adventure to try to survive for a few hours with only candles and Taboo to keep us warm and entertained, but the excitement would probably wear off after a while.

So, I invited all of my friends who were without power to crash at my place. As it turned out, most of them had power restored fairly quickly, so I had only one taker, a co-worker whom I see nearly every day, but whom I haven’t done much with lately outside of work.

My horoscope (which I read pretty regularly for 95 percent fun, 5 percent enlightenment) for Tuesday said “There are some indications you will be able to strengthen bonds with someone with whom you’ve wanted a closer affiliation. It could turn out to be an interesting day.”

So, when Sarah asked if she and her cat, Oswald, could stay at my house, I said, “Sure.” We didn’t do much, but we stayed up and talked. When I was finally talked out and ready to nurse my cold with a little shut-eye, I told her about my horoscope and how I thought it was talking about her. She seemed glad that she was the one I was supposed to bond with.

She was definitely glad we were bonding in my nice, heated house.



Address correspondence to Anne E. Kettenbrink, c/o The Joplin Globe, P.O. Box 7, Joplin, Mo. 64802, or via e-mail, akettenbrink@joplinglobe.com.

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