The "What do you do when the power goes off?" Story

It was an ordinary day. We were on our way home from State College, PA. Arrived yesterday at Jerry and Sue's house. We get to visit with them a couple of times a year and they visit with us in Lancaster a few times. We have been traveling companions for 12 years now, since Jerry and I both retired from our jobs at Manheim Township School District. It was time for us to visit so we could plan our next vacation trip. We arrived about 9:45 AM and sat and talked for a short time before Sue asked if we were ready for lunch. Sure was. I asked Jerry to see his new gas heating system that he had installed. Isn't this something that everyone would want to take a look at? While Sue prepared lunch the guys went down to the basement and into the room where they had made the installation. "What is that thing on the bottom?" I asked him. He reached down and touched the small unit and the lights flickered. "Wow, did you do that?" I asked. "I don't think so," he responded. We looked at each other and then the basement went totally dark. "Guess I'll have to see it at another time," I said. Up the stairs to see if Sue and Carol might know what happened. Sue was upset because our lunch was in the oven and that was electric. They called around the neighborhood and found out that everyone was without power. The final call they made was to a neighbor who told them that the electric company said the power would be back on by 8:00 PM. TONIGHT!! It was only 11:30 AM. Now how can they know that it will take them to precisely 8:00 PM to get the power back on. Oh, yeah I know. It's a top notch educational town and they are smart enough to know that. Well, Sue found out that our sandwiches were warm enough, so we had our lunch. Then it was time to decide what we could do without heat. Snuggle! Nah, we're too old for that stuff. Off to Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center to see the annual "Thon" which they have to raise money for children who have cancer. For weeks around Lancaster and just about every community in Pennsylvania and I suspect a few other bordering states, students of PSU were out with their buckets to raise money for this cause. Stop in a line of traffic at a stop light and they would be there asking for donations. Only when I get to see the multitude of students involved yesterday did I realize where my donations went. Former kids who had cancer and were helped by this 46 hour long dance marathon keep coming back to be part of the activities and celebrate with the students who helped them when they needed it the most. One little girl, 7 year old Emma, got to dance with the students on stage. Four years earlier Emma was suffering from cancer and received financial aide from the "Thon". The arena was packed with students and a few adults, like us. Signs, which we didn't see until later, proclaimed no sitting in the stands. They wanted you to be dancing. The young girl next to me saw me sit, tapped me on the head and told me I had to be standing. I looked around and saw the only other people sitting were the three I came with, so I stood, as did they. This year they raised an astounding $9,563,016.09 for the children. UNBELIEVABLE! My few dollars were part of that. Shows you how caring college students really are. From the "Thon" we headed into downtown State College for some shopping and a sticky bun a la mode at The Corner Room, then to neighboring Bellefonte for some more shopping. By now it was only 5:00 PM and we weren't hungry yet (probably was the sticky bun they made me eat) so we headed to the Mount Nittany Mall for some more shopping. So far I've been lucky; no packages! After an hour of walking we agreed it was time to eat. We had to make dinner take two hours so the house would allegedly have electricity when we got back. We ate at restaurant on the south-west side of State College. Ribs for me and pulled pork sandwiches for everyone else. They knew better! 7:45 PM now and time to head home. Hurray, the lights were on in the neighborhood when we got home. Had been on for maybe an hour and the house was warm when we entered. After some conversation we headed to bed. Today we had for lunch the meal Sue had planned for last night. After a game of "Warri" and talk about our next trip, we headed for home. Fun, but an unusual weekend with friends. Carol and I will head to the travel company soon to find out prices on some of the locations we talked about for our next trip. It was another extraordinary day in the life of anordinary guy. PS - Pixs from the top are: sign outside the Bryce Jordan Center, items for sale for the "Thon" to raise money, student dance group on stage leading the rest of the arena, including LDub, in a dance, view of the masses of dancers, newspaper photo of Emma as she appeared on stage with a few students to dance, Penn State football stadium, Penn State Old Main on a cold windy day, and center of Bellefont with the fading sun and threatening sky in the background.