By Emily Stonehouse

Full disclosure: I had an entirely different editorial written. It was a shoutout to Dysart, and their efforts towards including others in their parks and recreation plan. They do deserve some kudos for that, and there will be another time to celebrate them.

But past this weekend, so much went out the window.

This past weekend, we watched as the rains fell. All expecting a little ice storm; nothing we hadn’t seen before from past times the March Lion has reared its ugly head. We can handle it. We’ve done it before.

But the rains fell, and they didn’t stop. They landed on trees, on rocks, on buildings, on power lines, and they froze.

The first day of the weekend, there was some romance to the cancellations. A bonus day indoors. Movies and popcorn and finishing that book that’s been dog-earred for far too long.

But by the next day, during the sprints and spurts where some of us had access to internet, we saw the damage. The vast majority of the county was without power. Estimated restoration time for some (or many) was days away. Network towers seemed to crash. Where we normally had slackened power, at least we could rely on data.

But not this time. No phone calls, no internet, no heat.

The wispy warm romance from the early storm days was suddenly replaced by something sharply different: a chilling fear.

We kept our kids indoors. Encouraging them not to take any unnecessary risks today, for we knew we would never get out of our driveway, and a phone call was a luxury of the past.

We started plotting what to do for dinner, for breakfast the next day. How we would stay warm, what we would do.

And it made me realize one thing: we are ill-prepared for this. And maybe others are not. But I think the vast majority of us likely were. And that’s something we should change.

Beyond the basics, it took a series of outside the box questions and answers to get this paper together. Gone are the days of stamps and ink, as we live in the simplicity of speed; our documents linked and saved to clouds and servers and online docs.

It’s all well and good, until it’s gone.

And this weekend, I think we all realized how quickly it can go.

In this day and age of drastically twisting and turning weather, perhaps we should be more prepared to survive. Proper food purchased, heating sources confirmed, documents saved and secured.

The other reminder is just how alone we are. A text from my neighbour inviting us over to warm up while our electric heat source sputtered and spat truly made a world of difference. A warmth felt deeper than our bones, but in our hearts as well.

Thank you to the first responders, the hydro workers, and road staff, who needed to leave the comfort of their homes this weekend to ensure we are able to move forward.

Because it’s all well and good.

Until it’s gone.