McHenry County Opinion

Oliver: Power outage, dementia and darkness combine for hours of adventure

When Joan Oliver’s power went out last week, her heart sank

When the power went out last Wednesday, I was about to put dinner on the table.

My heart just sank. All day I had been worrying about the power going out. I am a weather wimp, and ice storms are right after tornadoes on my fear list. I’ll take a lot of snow any day over ice. Having very large trees near our house might have something to do with that.

The last time the Oliver homestead lost power, it didn’t come back on for almost three days. That was a couple of summers ago, after a bad storm and amid sweltering weather.

Strangely, the neighbor on one side of our house had power the entire time. The outage only affected the neighbors on the other side and all along our cross street.

During that storm, people lost power all over McHenry County, so our little 10-home section wasn’t exactly a priority.

My husband, Tony, and I wound up taking shelter with a friend. Since it was in the middle of the pandemic, I worried a lot about a safe place to go. I also worried a lot about losing all our food, so we showed up on her doorstep with coolers in tow.

This time around, the situation was similar. Our one neighbor still had power, and the other side and down the cross street did not. Instead of having the air conditioning not working, we had no heat. And if the last time was any indicator, we wouldn’t have heat for days.

It was still raining, and ice was covering everything. We’d already had one frightening boom when a branch from one of our gigantic silver maples came down onto the roof. I nearly leapt out of my skin.

I was afraid of taking Tony out into the storm. His Alzheimer’s disease means that he doesn’t really understand what’s going on, he doesn’t move very fast, and I wouldn’t be able to lift him if he fell on an icy sidewalk.

I also worried about the roads. I hadn’t been out all day because I was hunkering down in our warm and safe home. With the power out, that was no longer an option.

Meanwhile, I was having a tough time making Tony understand that I needed him to sit in a chair and stay there. No doubt the darkness was unsettling for him but having him follow me around only added to my stress.

I texted a couple of nearby friends to see whether they had power. One responded right away that she did and that we were welcome to go there.

When I explained all my concerns, she gently responded to each one. I’d just need to pack a bag and bring some pillows. If the walks were icy, I could throw down some salt. We’d revisit the food situation in the morning if the power was still out.

These logical responses helped to put the brakes on my worry.

I was afraid of taking Tony out into the storm. His Alzheimer’s disease means that he doesn’t really understand what’s going on, he doesn’t move very fast, and I wouldn’t be able to lift him if he fell on an icy sidewalk.

Having a plan to get out the door is one thing, making it happen with a husband with Alzheimer’s is another. As I tried to round up what we needed, I nearly ran into Tony more than once as he stood in the pitch-black hallway. I also think I explained the plan to him about 10 times before we managed to make it to the door.

In the middle of packing, another enormous boom, this time accompanied by the sound of breaking glass, punctuated my desire to get to somewhere safer as soon as possible. Another large branch from the maple had fallen, the ice sounding like broken glass.

Eventually we managed to get out the door, and I got Tony into the SUV. I was soaked after getting the layer of ice off the windshield and windows.

However, the roads weren’t too bad, and our drive wasn’t very far.

Later that night, just as my friend was getting a bed ready for us, I got an email that our power had been restored. This time, we were one of the lucky ones whose power came back on in only a few hours.

Still, it was an adventure. No doubt Tony was even happier than I was to be back in familiar surroundings.

Joan Oliver is the former Northwest Herald assistant news editor. She has been associated with the Northwest Herald since 1990. She can be reached at jolivercolumn@gmail.com.

Joan Oliver

Joan Oliver

A 30-year newspaper veteran who has been a copy editor, front-page editor, presentation editor, assistant news editor and publication editor, as well as a columnist and host of an online newspaper newscast.