Power Outage (in More Ways Than One)

A massive storm came through on Saturday, robbing the campus (and a good portion of the city) of electricity for several days. After waiting it out for 24 hours, Learner and his family went to church on Sunday morning hopeful, but then gave up afterward and drove north 100 miles to Learner's family's farm for a convenient overnight complete with plenty of space, refrigeration, and air conditioning.

I agreed to stay on campus to let him know when the power came back on, which it did at about 8 p.m. last night. As I didn't want to disturb his retreat at the farm (one of his favorite places in the whole world), I waited and called him mid-morning today with the news. He said he wasn't all that glad for the power's return, as that meant he had to go to Greek class tonight, leaving the farm to do so after only a 12-hour respite. Nevertheless, they made the trip and got back this afternoon about 3 p.m., upon which Mrs. Learner threw out a majority of their spoiled food and went shopping.

When I had called him earlier this morning, Learner thanked me for sticking around to let him know about the power's return. He also mentioned he thought I was a better man than he, as I chose to endure a little inconvenience while he took his family and ran from it. I assured him that he was simply doing what was best for all involved, to which he agreed, but then mentioned it was a good thing they never went to Africa as they were planning (Learner had even made an initial scouting trip) - they never would have survived.

I assured him he was overreacting and was simply weary from the hassle of the weekend, not to mention thinking about his last week of summer semester and his Greek final on Thursday. He agreed, but then was quick to say that he was also tired of the campus serving as a metaphor for his current condition.

"And what condition is that?" I asked.

"One that's out of power," he said, just before he hung up.

Now that the power has come back on around campus, I'm hoping it will do the same in Learner as well. The guy could use a jump.