When Your Internet Is Out, Just Be A Family

Where do I even begin. Oh I know. Hugging Chuck.

No wait. Let me back up. Things you should know:

1. My internet/phone line has been out. For days.

2. Looking back maybe I should have asked Chuck if it was okay for me to shower him with unsolicited hugs/noogies and perform the perfect cheer when he showed up to repair my problem.

3. Chuck is awesome. The End.

No wait. Let me go back to the beginning.

I finally talked my husband into watching Breaking Bad. It was Sunday. I have watched several episodes without him so I told him that he needed to play catch up. I was watching on the television and he was in another room watching on his tablet.

Suddenly Netflix just….stopped. I waited. Nothing. I raced to the bedroom. My husband was staring confused at his tablet. The message: No internet connection. My husband knowing me as well as he does knew that he would not get a minute of peace until he checked the WiFi. So he did.

After five minutes of pure torture the verdict was in. Our internet was down. I repeat the internet was down. I picked up the phone to call our service provider. Our phone line was dead.

Okay so I really don’t know why my husband and I always assume the worst in these situations. But we do. It was apparent at this point that our country was under attack. The government was one by one cutting off all of our communication lines so they could take over the airwaves and give us further instructions.

No seriously. We kicked that around for about a minute and a half. Then I grabbed my cell phone and called the phone company. They answered. So either my husband and I had figured out we were at war before AT & T OR……our phone line was out.

I was walked through all of the normal questions. Yes my phone was working a couple of hours ago. Yes my phone was currently plugged into the jack. No I was NOT talking to them on the very phone line that I was trying to report. Geez. What kind of people did this lady deal with all day?

After ten minutes my phone line was deemed out of commission.

Uhhh….I said that like 10 minutes ago.

She would dispatch a repair man BUT it would be after the Labor Day holiday. Because people who labor deserved a day to not labor. I get it. Believe me. I just don’t like it.

I told her thank you and I looked forward to having the problem resolved. Then just like that. She was gone.

Gulp.

Now don’t get me wrong. We were very glad that our country was not being invaded. I mean there was that. But here we were. No phone. No internet. No Netflix. No laptops. no tablets. I still had my smart phone so I am sure it is kind of hard for you to feel sorry for me. But a girl likes options.

So for the remainder Labor Day weekend we were going to be roughing it. I did not see this coming. Forget the food, shelter, clothing and air conditioning. There was no internet.

Now before you write me off, yes I am being a little dramatic because that makes for way funnier writing. I knew we would survive the storm. Mostly.

The outage did get me thinking back to a simpler time when everyone was not so connected. Those were good days. So what did we do with this little gift from AT&T? We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

First we ate lunch. As a family. At the good table. Most people I know have a breakfast table or an island that becomes the everyday table. It is just easier because it is in the kitchen or close to it anyway.

Then there is the dining room table. The fancy table. And by fancy I mean the one that only gets used on Thanksgiving and Christmas. We threw caution to the wind. We ate hamburgers and hot dogs at the fancy table. I asked my daughter to help set our places and she kept questioning me as though I had lost my mind. The dining room table? The one way in there? That we only use when guests come? That one?

Next we pulled out videos from Christmases past. What a treat to watch my babies back when they were all actually babies. Those baby cheeks and baby voices. The kids LOVED watching themselves and reminiscing about all of the great stuff Santa had brought. Thank goodness for Dad’s videoing skills.

Later a beautiful thing happened. While playing outside, it started to rain. Do you remember playing in the rain as a child? There was nothing better. This was the perfect rain. It was warm out. No thunder, no lightning. Just a good, soaking rain. We danced and played. Even the Lab got in on the fun. Everything was washed away and made new.

Now true. Not having internet is not quite the same as not having electricity or water. And also true I still had a cell phone to stay connected with the outside world. And a tv to make sure we had not been invaded. But something about knowing the internet was out made me think back to a simpler time.

Today, as promised AT & T came to repair my line. And we are completely back on the grid. I won’t lie. I would nominate Chuck for employee of the decade if it was up to me. I am so glad to be connected again.

I guess the three-day break taught me to keep stuff in prospective. Family comes first. Building memories is what’s most important. We can lose anything, as long as we have each other.

And if you ever get the chance, always dance in the rain.

Glad to be back.

Fighting the public health threat of counterfeit medicaments