Viewpoint

A Day in the Life

by Richard G. Johnstone Jr., Exec. Editor

 

Richard Johnstone

 

The electric cooperative owned by you and your neighbors powers many of the necessities, and conveniences, of your family�s daily life.

EEEEkkk! EEEEkkk! EEEEkkk! A groggy head flops on the pillow as a practiced hand snaps down on the alarm clock, stopping the air-raid siren after only three quick warnings that 6 o�clock has arrived. Groan. Get up. The man squints as he removes his electric razor from the recharging stand while his wife takes a steamy shower.

There�s a rich, warming smell in the air. The man smiles. Aaahh. He remembered to plug in the coffeemaker last night. 

He�s still groggy, though, operating on instinct. But suddenly his mind wakes up. With a start.

 �Honey,� his wife calls from the shower. �Did you get the clothes out of the dryer last night like I asked you to?�

Oops. He mumbles something then sprints down the stairs, quickly grabbing an armful of clothes from the dryer, plugging in the iron and setting up the ironing board.

Next, he slides four wedges of the fancy artisanal bread his wife bought last night into the aerodynamic, gleaming chrome toaster they were given as a house-warming present. Then he punches the button on the plug-in intercom.

In a tired routine that hasn�t worked � or amused them � in years, he shouts, �Kids, this is the voice of God. Wake up!�

The man then hustles over and irons his wife�s uniform, far more neatly and thoroughly than he does his work shirt, which he hurriedly swipes a couple of times.

Uh-oh. A sound buying him time suddenly disappears. The shower water upstairs has cut off. At this inopportune instant, the cat jumps onto the ironing board, arching its back, while the dog whines at his feet, both craving attention. �Sorry, guys, gotta run,� he says.

Hurriedly, he packs up the ironing board and sprints upstairs, hanging up his wife�s uniform at the exact instant she emerges from the bathroom. She finds her uniform, and smiles at him sweetly. �I thought you had forgotten,� she says. �No way!� he replies, turning away just in time to hide the ruddy glow that burns his face whenever he brags about his bowling scores or his high school athletic exploits.

The four family members then converge on the kitchen. The kids wrestle for the flat-screen TV remote. She snatches it from them. �No time for that,� she says firmly.

Then, with the practiced precision of stage actors in a French farce, the four family members open and close the refrigerator, grab the toasted wedges of bread and adroitly slather them with jelly, pack their lunches, check the news online, and unplug their smartphones nesting in chargers, never stopping to sit down, pausing only to exchange quick kisses as the kids head off to the bus stop, while the man and woman set the security system for the day, grab their tablets and head to the garage.

They climb into separate cars, the woman slightly quicker than her husband. She pushes her remote control garage-door opener a second before he does, with his attempt stopping the door�s ascent a mere yard above the concrete floor. He groans. She laughs, pushes it again, and the massive door obeys, whirring upward, pulling back the curtain on another workday.

And so it goes, all day, every day, as your electric service stays quietly in the background all morning, during the afternoon and evening, and through the night, too, powering the alarm clock, the razor, the water heater, the heating and cooling system, the intercom, the dryer, the iron, the toaster and coffeemaker, the refrigerator, the garage door opener, the security system, the TV, the smartphone, the tablet.

Any electric utility can provide you with electricity. Only one can provide you with both reliable, affordable electricity, and the power to have a say-so in the business of your utility. That kind of power comes from an electric cooperative, owned by you and your neighbors. And serving you and your family all day, every day. 

 

 

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