Snow Storm Lessons

I fear my teens have been getting too many lessons on insurance and natural disasters. First, it was our roof during the Hurricane Irene, then it was our car colliding with a deer (the deer walked away), and now it was five days without power.

My teens have learned the importance of protecting our family’s possessions with insurance as well as knowing how to deal with disasters or when things go awry.

This last act by Mother Nature, snow in October, brought us lessons in togetherness. We “camped” in our house with no lights, no heat and no electronics! We played cards by candle light and listened to our hand-cranked emergency radio. Yes, we got on each other’s nerves at certain points but being together was a good thing. We definitely had some good laughs and some numb toes and fingers.

As we threw out the contents of the refrigerator and freezer, my teens could appreciate the loss of the food and the money it would cost to replace it. We ate out a few times and they saw how expensive it was getting. Just grabbing a quick coffee, juice and donut was starting to add up.

However, we thought about our electric and cable bills would be reduced this month – some savings…but we would have preferred the heat and electronic entertainment.

Here’s hoping that we are done with the insurance lessons for a while.