I woke up in the middle of the night and heard our air conditioner make a loud, not-good, noise.

And then it shut off.

Then I began to seriously worry that it was broken.

It’s summertime.

In Texas.

It’s hot here.

There are some things I can live without.

I can’t think of any right now.  Please don’t make me.  But, I’m sure there are some things.

The nighttime I can probably get through without the air conditioner.

It was the hot, humid daytime that I was dreading.

The daytime I could probably get through, too.  But in the middle of the night, everything seems scary.

So, I woke up Texas Guy – “Did you her that noise?!”, I asked.

“What noise?” – he asks me.

I should have known this question was coming.

But, I wasn’t thinking.  And it’s the middle of the night.  And I’m a sleep-deprived mom of a 5-month-old.  Plus, I’m still trying to catch up on all the sleep I lost when my 20-year-old was a baby.  (He didn’t sleep well.  At all.  Until he was 2.)  And then there was my 18-year-old baby girl.  (The doctor claimed a colic diagnosis to be correct.  I told him she was PMS-ing.  Bad.)  The next two babies slept with me.  I know it’s not a good idea.  But I slept.  Well.

But, this isn’t exactly relevant to what I’m telling you.  Where was I?  …  Oh, yeah.  Texas Guy asks the next logical question – What noise?  And I am fully unprepared to answer.  Because I’m tired.  …  And I’m freaking out about the scary prospect of a day without air conditioning.  …  In the summertime.  …  In Texas.  …  It’s hot here.  …  Also, guys ask this question – about air conditioners, and broken appliances, and vehicles.  I think they do it because they are born with this uncanny ability to make any noise necessary at any time.  It must be a part of that y-chromosome.  Because, us girls, not always so good at it.  Me, specifically, terrible.

So, I go over my options in my head.  …  Hmmmm  …  Do I try to recreate the noise?  …  Hmmmm  …  Do I try to verbally explain the noise?  …  Hmmmm  …  Do I try to explain, once again, that I am not equipped to recreate noises?  …  Hmmmm  …  Hmmm  ….

Don’t ask me what Texas guy was thinking during all of this.  And though, oftentimes we can weigh options in our minds quickly, not at 1:38 am.  This took me quite a while.  Maybe he was hoping to just go back to sleep.  Maybe he had gone back to sleep.  I’m surprised he’s still talking to me.

So I try to explain it.  …  “It was … it sounded like …  it sounded as if someone were to put a large stick into a giant blender while it was on and then took it out and then did it again a couple more times.”

I’m so embarrassed.   It was the best I could come up with.   Texas Guy didn’t say anything about my description of the noise.  Not even a huff.  He just let it slide.  That’s how I know he loves me.

He got up, went out to the truck to get his big flashlight and started doing his thing – checking switches  and stuff.  You know … that thing I can’t think of the name right now.  You know.

Meanwhile, I noticed all the power in the house was out.

My first thought … what’s the date?  Did I seriously forget to pay the bill?!

Then I remembered the date and realized it wasn’t the bill.

Then I went back to worrying about the air conditioner and if it’s broken.

Then I laid in bed thinking about how blessed I am to have Texas Guy who takes care of these things, power outages and broken water pipes, in the middle of the night while I lay around in bed.

Then I continued to lay in bed.

Texas Guy came in and said all the power is out everywhere.  I’m a city girl.  Out here in the middle of nowhere it always looks like the power is out to me.  So, he points out that the street lights are out.  Except I swear I think he called them street lamps.  And that there aren’t any lights on around the homes in the distance.  I didn’t realize we had all these lights around.  I also try to stay indoors at night.  The bugs think I’m their Thanksgiving feast.  And bug bites swell to ridiculous sizes immediately on me.  And then he did not tell me what a dumb girl I am.  He loves me that much.

So, there we laid … in bed … hot.

I should explain … Texas Guy thinks the answer to everything is: Turn the air conditioner up.

So he was not happy.

I suggested we open the windows.  He said it was hotter outside.

Then it warmed up inside and we opened the doors and windows.  And I realized how much I LOVE the breeze that blows through this house!

Then I wondered why I pay for air conditioning in the evenings!

Then I remembered – Texas Guy likes it cold.

Then the baby woke up and decided it was a good time for a party!

Darn it.

But, she’s too cute for me to be upset.  So I laid her in the middle of the bed.  And she proceeded to do her new arm exercises, subsequently beating up Texas Guy.

But she’s cute.  So who can be upset?

So we laid there admiring her adorable little self, laying there in just a diaper.

Then a crew showed up to fix the problem that had caused the power outage.  They were a couple of houses down the street from us and I could faintly hear them while I watched their blinking lights bounce off my bedroom walls and windows.

I realized how glad I was that I wasn’t the one out in the middle of the night fixing the power problem.

Finally, it was fixed.  I don’t know how long it took.  My cell phone is my clock and it was about dead when this all started.  So Texas Guy went and plugged it in in his truck for me.

And finally we fell asleep.

And very soon after … the alarm went off.