In the dark

Do you ever leave the lights off on purpose even though it's hard to see what you're doing? Or turn the light off behind you in a public washroom, just to save a bit of energy, even though you realize that it's silly and it probably doesn't make any difference in the big picture? No? Neither do I.....

My dad used to always yell at us when we were little for leaving the lights on. I'd be in the basement and he'd make me come all the way up to my room on the second floor to turn off my light. I'd always ask why he didn't just turn it off himself but the message he was trying to get across seems to have sunk in.  I hate when someone leaves the lights on now.  I think for my dad at the time the lesson was about waste, maybe wasting money that he had to pay for the power bill.  Still waste is a big problem for most of us today.

Part of the reason I fumble around stupidly in the dark from time to time is to see what it would be like if we didn't have electricity. Lots of people don't.  It really bothers me how much I take things for granted, not enough to stop taking them for granted though... I am constantly trying to remind myself how lucky I am.  Only to be pulled back down into self entitlement and restlessness again and again.

A few weeks ago a water main broke on our street. I woke up at 3am to go pee....(pregnancy problems)...when I went to wash my hands, nothing came out of the tap.
I was stunned.  I called the city to complain and found out we would be without service for about five hours. Five hours! What a major inconvenience to my conveyance filled life.  Having no water really makes you appreciate how precious it is though.
Even if only for a day.

Yes, I am writing this while sitting on the bathroom floor in the dark.
Maybe we are all in the dark.
Too much?
I couldn't resist.