What I Learned from Irene

1. Big storms make people afraid (including me).

2. Fear does funny things to people (including me).

3. You can never have too much water when the power goes out. My husband filled two trash cans with water for flushing, mopping, etc., and even though we didn’t use most of it, it was good to have it – and have enough to give to family and friends.

4. It’s good to have family and friends with generators and homes in different towns. Even if you don’t sleep there, you can shower.

5. In big storms, dogs just sleep.

6. Next time, I will have bottles of hand sanitizer everywhere. I never realized how many times I wash my hands in a day until I couldn’t.

7. A battery-operated transistor radio is a wonderful thing.

8. Job Lot is a good bet for batteries and flashlights when other places have run out!

9. All anyone wanted to do during the storm was to eat junk food.

10. Hummingbirds seem not to notice tropical storm-level wind. They flew around, eating and fighting, through the entire storm.

11. Next time, I must do the dishwasher before the storm, even if it’s not full.

12. Next time, I must do the laundry before the storm.

13. If the whole house were really, really clean before the power went out, it wouldn’t have been so astonishingly filthy when the power came back on.

14. Writing stories while sitting in the car with the computer plugged into a laptop charger does not do good things for your back.

15. I never realized what a great invention toast was until the power was out for days and days.

16. I never knew how long I would stand in line for coffee until I found an open Dunkin Donuts on Day 3 of being without power.

17. It's good to be reminded of all you really have in life. I hadn't considered all of it in a long time, but a huge storm, and the loss of some of the amenities, really made me recognize how lucky I am.