plan and prepare

The photo to the left is Gus with some friends playing during our rainy season.

No matter where you live, you get used to your environment and you end up "relying" on the basics of life based on where it is you reside.

For example, you live in North Carolina so you plan on electricity and you don't plan on major snow storms, you know that the falls are beautiful, etc... It becomes a part of your natural tendencies of living, whether you realize it or not.

I live in Jos, Nigeria. As a family, we plan on not having power, we prepare for rainy season, I know that every time I go to the market, I won't find the same things as I did last time (unless I want yams :)), etc...

So, when something out of the norm takes place you realize that you weren't ready for it. Yesterday and the day before, for example, we had lots of power, so when it was time for me to get my vegetables ready to go to a friends house, I open my fridge and everything was frozen. So frustrating. We keep our refrigerator on super high so when we do receive "light" our food will become cold to last the whatever hours in between before we turn on our generator. So, now I had all bad vegetables (wilted lettuce, frozen and squooshed tomatoes) and frozen boxed milk, etc...

I found it ironic that my norm has become to plan and prepare for no power, so when I receive it everything goes wrong verses when you live somewhere else, you rely on the power and when it goes off, it throws you off....

Is there ever really a state of life that you are fully planned and prepared. I doubt it, inevitably you adjust to wherever it is you live. Crazy huh? Oh well, what do you do besides throw away your bad veggies and start over....

The second photo is a neighborhood down the street from ours. Talk about getting no power, yikes....