Sacred Silence

Although I am enormously grateful that power has been fully restored in our abode and life is rapidly returning to normal, I must say I will look back on the blacked-out days gone by with drops of melancholy.

For, amidst the maddening humidity and exasperating ennui brought about by the stunningly sudden nationwide outage, there arose singular moments of pure joy that I will not easily forget.

With heavy-duty electronic appliances like the television and stereo shushed up, our home was rendered amazingly free of a thousand jarring, mindless noises. For once, our phones were not ringing off the hook and the doorbell refrained from stirring; everyone was too busy finding their own means of dealing with the crisis.

What mostly remained were the simple sounds of my husband and I playing / singing / dancing with our squealing / babbling / giggling toddler – a wondrous cornucopia of harmonious glee borne out of the superstorm’s aftermath of imposed silence.

In the awesome quiet, we chanced upon bits of precious time that magnificently stood still. We chose to seize the most we could, generously lavishing our undivided attention on each other and on our precious child. Our entire being’s focus naturally turned in on ourselves as a family, reveling in our togetherness and rejoicing in the treasure we had been given.

As cluttered reverberations vanished, we were left face to face with the essential, allowing us to ponder, assess and realize what truly mattered. At the end of the day – no matter how darkened it may be – it is the people you love and who love you in return that will carry you through to the light.