It was another hot day in San Diego, well hot for here anyway. Yes I know that we are spoiled here in America’s Finest City with the normally wonderful weather. I was to pick Brenda up at the airport later today, so I thought that my Mac and I would go to Panera and have a little lunch, a little iced tea and do a little work while keeping cool.

I was sitting there working through a stitch guide for November/December issue of Needlepoint Now when the power went out. I thought well it will be back on in a bit, so I continued to work not really realizing what had happened. My thoughts went back to the years that I worked in the restaurant business and how we handled loss of power. Soon it was getting rather stuffy in there and decided maybe it was time to head home. Traffic had quickly become snarled and was already a challenge getting around. This is an intersection close to my house where a good Samaritan got out and was directing traffic. I arrived home and quickly decided that I better leave now for the airport to pick up Brenda…

Traffic on the freeway wasn’t too bad for about 10-12 miles, then all of a sudden I was caught in quite a mess. It took me over an hour to drive about 5-6 miles, when I thought it might be a good idea just to get off the roads and find someplace nice and safe to park. I wanted to make sure that I had gas to get to the airport to get Brenda, get her to La Jolla and then for me to get home. I was thinking without power, there wouldn’t be any gas be any available.

I had a book or two with me, my laptop with a few hours in the battery and my cell phone, so I would be just fine. Thank goodness for the smart phone, texting and Facebook which kept me connected with the world. There were several other people that had the same idea and soon we had a party going on! It seems like the worst of times brings out the best in people.

Brenda’s flight was rerouted back to Phoenix and the freeways were clearing up, so it was time to head home. It seems that the problem was caused by a worker that probably didn’t know quite what he was doing and caused the loss in power to 1.4M customers over most of Southern California, parts of Mexico & Arizona. It was very eerie driving home with everything so dark.

I can consider us very lucky as the power was out for less than 12 hours. I can’t imagine what it is like going for days without having electricity. Brenda was able to get back to Tucson safe and sound and soon after she calls me…not necessarily to let me know that she got back home, but who won tonight? well exactly which game are you speaking of? well of course the San Diego Padres vs the Arizona Diamondbacks…well it wasn’t the San Diego team that won. and until next time…keep on stitching