Remembering a summer past sans electricity

The summer I am remembering was maybe 15 years ago. We lost electricity for several days. Fortunately the temperatures were reasonable. We bought a lot of ice and used our big cooler to keep perishables. We mostly cooked on our charcoal grill. And best of all, we spent time with each other, mostly talking.

Our daughter must have been away taking summer classes at college, but our adult son was still living at home. My husband and I were both teachers at the time, so we had the summer off. We have a small fire pit, the kind that has legs and looks a bit like a charcoal grill. We used it more those electricity-free days than at any other time. The three of us sat around the fire and talked. We talked and listened a lot. Our son had a habit of hibernating in his room, but those several days he sat with us and talked. 

The mother of one of my 4th grade students and I were talking about the days without power much later. She had taken her two daughters and checked into a hotel with a pool until power was restored. That was also a practical solution, but she was practically dumbstruck when I explained how we coped at home. 

It was pleasant, low-key. No television, no computer, just conversation and books if it was light enough to read. We were lucky it was summer when the backyard became an important "room." 

When the power came back on we drifted back to normal, less conversation, more electronics. More convenient for sure.

But when I think about those days I miss sitting around together outside and talking just to talk.