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Inside Out

The right time for the power to go out

Jeanne Sager
Posted 6/6/23

The power outage couldn’t have come at a worse time ... or a better one.  

I had two pages of my website to update, six emails to send, photos to post to my business social media …

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Inside Out

The right time for the power to go out

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The power outage couldn’t have come at a worse time ... or a better one. 

I had two pages of my website to update, six emails to send, photos to post to my business social media account, wedding photos to edit, an order for the items I’ll need for my kid’s graduation party to order and this column to write. 

As my computer screen went dark, I could feel the tears welling up. The knot that forms in the bottom of the stomach when you’re stressed clenched tighter, and my shoulders moved somewhere near the level of my earlobes. 

It’s that time of year when life gets hectic for any photographer in the Catskills, especially a photojournalist. There are weddings and family reunions, parades and graduations and so much more to photograph. 

Then add in a teenager about to turn 18 and graduate from high school, plus the juggle of pets, family needs and more, and well ... this is how you end up with six emails to send, two pages of a website to update, an entire wedding’s worth of photos waiting to be hand-edited, and a tear-stained face over a power outage. 

With NYSEG estimating restoration some 5 to 6 hours later, I had no choice but to set the work aside, settle on the couch with my family, our corgis and a card game. 

And it was the best way I could have possibly spent an evening. 

As my husband and daughter (and the corgis) made me laugh ... and laugh ... my shoulders slowly began to drop. The knot in stomach loosened. The weight of the world slinked off into a corner, not gone by any means but temporarily forgotten. 

What lay in front of me in our quiet home without working computers or even a running refrigerator were the moments that matter. Me. My daughter. My husband. Being together and being ourselves. 

With a storm swirling around me, that power outage couldn’t have come at a worse time. 

But with my desperate need to find my port in that storm, it couldn’t have come at a better one either. 

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