Stepping into the world as an artist has been a new experience for this wife and three-time mom. During the week I spend my days working in my sketchbook, thinking about new compositions for projects I have been planning for a while, working on the Elephant, and writing blogs and reviews, sometimes into the late hours of the night.
There are the usual interruptions throughout the day: food breaks, phone calls, appointments via phone or video chat during this crazy pandemic, and the occasional celebratory invasion of our little Jaime after a successful potty trip.
Then there are the not-so-usual interruptions like that of tonight. A couple hours in to working on the Elephant at my desk, my light began to flicker and suddenly we found ourselves sitting in the dark, quiet house for a split second before our sweet little 2 year old began squealing about the light being off and wanting Anna and Elsa (for the billionth time today) and everything else we could not give her without electricity.
As Brother set up a light at my table with one of his phones and began trying to pacify Jaime’s protests to the dark and no movie, my Allen stepped outside, walked up to Main Street, and established that our whole little town was experiencing a blackout! Our outage was expected to last until roughly 1:00 a.m., three hours after the initial blackout.
Before we knew it, I had abandoned attempts of working on the Elephant by flashlight and turned to blog with what remained of the battery life on our laptop. After a while, Jaime had burned herself out on dancing to Uncle’s music and we started watching Wall-E on my phone, while my Allen was tracking the outage on his phone.
As inconvenient as something like a blackout is, I love the family time that is the result! Piling up and cuddling close as a family, creating precious little memories along the way that fill my mind in the moments I am working long nights in a deep trance that brings peace to my heart, and I know my children will cherish forever.