Last night around 11:15 the electricity died. I was reading when the room went dark. It took me totally by surprise. Henry is not afraid of the usual darkness but is afraid of sudden darkness. He sat up, started shaking then came to me for a hug. He got many hugs and scratches. I had grabbed the flashlight and started reading hoping the lights would be back quickly. Nala then went out and Henry followed. I opened the door and used the flashlight to light the stairs. In a while Nala came back inside but Henry did not. The bottom of the stairs was dark. He just stood there. I went out and shined the light on the steps, and he braved the stairs and came inside. He got a treat. I went to bed early. The electricity was back when I woke up.

Last night got cold rather quickly, and we had snow flurries. This morning is still cold, 37°. The sunlight looks faded. The sky is cloudy, a grey blue color. Light rain is predicted for later. This is an almost pretty day gone bad.

When I was a kid, my family had a hierarchy. The grandparents and their siblings were the oldest and at the top. At family parties the aunties came, my grandmother’s sisters. “Are you Chickie’s daughter? They always asked. That’s how I was known to the aunties. My parents and their siblings came next. My mother was the third of eight, my father the second of three. I had cousins galore. We were the bottom of the hierarchy. Now I am at the top. I am the oldest. That astonishes me. I can’t believe time has so quickly passed.

When I was in Ghana, Mr. Edwards was the local education chair. He spoke at my school often. I always thought him pompous. His speeches each time were filled with clichés. The one I remember from every single speech is, “Time and tide wait for no man.”

This entry was posted on March 13, 2026 at 1:14 pm and is filed under Musings. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.