Brain Freeze

I was cold - so cold that my brain was frosting over. It was Saturday, January 21st and like nearly 400,000 other people in Puget Sound, we'd been without power for a number of days.

On Friday, the day before, Scott had driven to his daughter's in Tacoma. Summer and Michael had power which meant Scott could keep breathing. His emergency oxygen tanks were about to run out and getting more oxygen delivered that would last - who knew how long - was not a great option. I opted to stay home with the dog and cat, right in front of our gas fireplace, even though its electric fan wasn't working. I put on lots of clothes and curled up with a good book. This isn't so bad, I thought, having time to read and not be tempted by my computer. My cell phone rang. "Hey, Mom, Jon and I are going to the South Hill Mall since we still don't have any power either. Want to go?" How could I say no. I love spending time with my girls and their husbands and my grandsons, so even though I hadn't had a shower since Thursday morning, my hair was sticking straight up, and I was not about to put makeup on since I had no good way to wash it off again, I said "Yes!" I hurriedly smashed my hair into a headband, added a jacket over my sweatshirt, and put on a baseball cap. Well at least the black baseball cap matched my black boots!

We ate at the food court and caught up on their latest adventures with no heat. At least they had hot water. A number of years ago, we opted for a tankless hot water heater and guess what, there's no reservoir since it's about the size of a bathroom medicine cabinet. Once the hot water comes through the pipes, we have as much as we want, but not when the power goes out. Guess who didn't think about that when making the purchase!



Grandson Micah is a character and very independent. He wanted to roam the aisles with Jon chasing after him. Kendall and I followed after chatting and laughing at the antics of both of "the boys." Micah's objective was to find kids. Once found, he waved furiously to get their attention and most often the result was lots of smiles and laughter from kids and parents alike.

Once they dropped me off at home, I turned the couch around directly in front of the fireplace, hauled all my bedding into the TV room, put on my granny nightgown with ever-so-fetching ski socks, donned my thick bathrobe (the one my cat is in LOVE with - no kidding - can't keep him away from me when I'm wearing it), and snuggled down for a long winter's nap. At one point Calvin, the cat, did sit half on my pillow and half on my head. I was overjoyed to think my head would be warm all night. But alas, he didn't stay long. No bathrobe in sight to love on.

By Saturday, I decided it was time to load up food that might be saved and head for Courtney's house in Tacoma. She also had power, but being the stubborn person I am and just knowing the power would come on any time, I waited until late afternoon to go. This is when the brain frost became evident. I fully intended to go to Costco to get gas, but instead of turning left, I turned right and ended up driving past the fairgrounds. I also thought to myself, I don't have my glasses on! How can I drive without my glasses on? I reached up to my face and low and behold - there they were! I stopped briefly at Fred Meyer and on entering the store, couldn't remember why I was there. When I remembered, it was really hard to make a decision about what to buy.

I did make it to Courtney's and told her about my brain freeze - which wasn't from ice cream. She's a psychiatric nurse, so I'm always asking her about my physical ailments. I'm not sure what kind of sense that makes, but I am grateful she hasn't yet told me my symptoms are in my head. On Saturday, she did say it doesn't take much of a reduction in temperature over a period of time, to produce the kind of muddled thinking I was experiencing.

I was just settling into a comfortable chair, when my neighbor texted me to say, "The power is on!" Wouldn't you know. I called Scott to tell him the news and managed to linger long enough to get invited to a wonderful dinner. The trip was definitely worth it. I had a great meal, enjoyed my grandson, the refrigerator refroze my food, and their warm home and loving company thawed my brain.www.BonnieKingPhotography.com