In the moment, I certainly would not have qualified it as a favorite. We were cold. Really cold. And a little scared (at least I was). The power had been out for at least 10 hours with no indication of when it would return. The forecasted low for the night was -1° F. We were cold.
All five of us bundled up in extra layers with our pajamas and burrowed into our queen-sized bed. I gathered all the blankets in the house and piled them on top of us. We read bedtime stories by candlelight and flashlight. We said a prayer together as a family. Then my three children fell fast asleep. Admittedly, I did not sleep much that night. Our power returned for a few hours throughout the night, just enough to barely warm the house each time.
In the moment, this was not my favorite. My kids thought it was a great adventure. They thought it was the absolute best to have a full-on family sleepover. When will I ever have all of them sleeping in that same tiny space again? It won’t be long before the idea of a family sleepover will be hard to even imagine. They will be too big. Too cool. Too soon. So, I am going to hold onto the magic of those three sweet faces asleep in my bed. I will be grateful for the moment. I will hope we never experience a power outage like that again.
