I should have known better than to title last week's post "The unexpected." It just invites things. I suppose I could just as well have entitled this week's post "The foreshadowed," but my maternal grandmother was particularly partial to the phrase "conked out," and it's equally fitting.So, here's the foreshadowing. Anyone who knows Lime well knows that one of the great sources of joy in his little life is the consumption of an afternoon Popsicle or three while sitting on the chairs in our front yard, watching various vehicles roll by our house. Because of his inordinate fondness for Popsicles, we noticed a disquieting trend. On some days, the Popsicles were not adequately frozen. At first, we attributed this to the fact that there are lots of people in and out of our house every day, some of whom may not be fastidious about closing the refrigerator and freezer. This list may include Lime himself, who will, in a desperate attempt to reach his Popsicles, pull back on the freezer door with such vigor and abandon that he ends up falling over backwards.
But, as the week wore on, it became increasingly clear that some more sinister force was at work. We reluctantly came to the conclusion that our refrigerator had, in my grandmother's words, conked out. This was of particular concern because at any given time, our refrigerator contains a value equivalent to several refrigerators' worth of prescription medication. So, one evening when the temperature in the cabinet had reach 48F and showed no signs of going back down, I called our reliable hero, Nona, who came over to pick up our stock of medications and perishable foods. Just in the nick of time, too, as that evening marked the last 24 hours of our refrigerator's useful life.I then spent a great deal of time on the internet, reading reviews, checking and re-checking measurements, searching for sales, performing comparisons to see which vendor could get us a new unit the most quickly, and so forth. In summary, we are living out of a cooler packed with ice on the kitchen floor, but with any luck on Thursday we will be back up and running with a new refrigerator that has the bonus feature of actually staying cold.
All this shenanigans has occupied what little remained of my available brain cells. In fact, I've been so distracted by the whole thing that I completely forgot to take Lemon to food school this afternoon. He has a clinic visit coming up on Wednesday, so I'd been devoting my mental energy towards not forgetting that, and making sure I was writing down all the questions I want to ask at the visit. And thus, food school fell through the cracks. There is now a weekly reminder set on my phone, and I am really hoping to have those neural pathways back starting next week.
I feel a little silly writing this whole post about a malfunctioning refrigerator right now. Yes, it's a pain, yes, it's disruptive, yes, it's money we weren't planning on spending in this way and at this time. But on the other hand, we are so fortunate that that is all it is. Unlike our fellow Americans in Puerto Rico, we have power, we have a functioning infrastructure, we can get ice, we can get more food, we can get more medicine, and we can get a new refrigerator. So, please consider sending a few bucks their way. There are a number of organizations, like this one, that are helping out there with relief efforts that could use your assistance. And hey, since tomorrow is a day ending in "y," maybe pick up the phone and let your senator know that you like having access to healthcare. Couldn't hurt.
