It was a chilly night in early March. This happened a couple years ago now.

I had just gotten home from work. I was working late that night, so it was close to midnight

by the time I walked through the door.

I was beyond exhausted. I wanted nothing more than to crack open a freezing cold beer and

throw my feet up on the couch. So that's exactly what I did. Alcohol always tastes better

after a hard day's work. I didn't even turn on the TV immediately. I just sat there on

the couch with my eyes closed

and my feet elevated, trying to ignore the nagging thoughts about how stressful my life was.

I remember getting frustrated while flipping through the channels because nothing was catching

my eye. After sifting through for another few minutes, I ultimately gave up and opted

to enjoy my beer

in silence.

Like everything else in my life, peace and quiet was apparently too much to ask for, because

not ten seconds later, all the lights in my house simultaneously shut off.

You know that slightly fuzzy popping sound that comes a split second before everything

shuts off? Yeah, there's nothing I hate more than hearing that noise.

For whatever reason, our house had a tendency to lose power every so often.

Now that I think about it, it still does.

Anyway, my first reaction was to step outside and see if any of the neighboring houses were affected.

I stepped outside and shut the door behind me, trying to preserve any heat that I might not

be able to get back should I fail to restore the power.

It was late, but I remember seeing at least one house on my block with their lights on, which

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