The potential was always there and I knew it, in a worst-case scenario sort of way. But I didn't think of it in terms of being "only a matter of time" even though, apparently, it was.

The high winds knocked out the electricity, as is often the case (see where I liken this inconvenience to living in a third-world country), about twenty minutes before I arrived home with the kids from school. The automatic garage doors would not open, not even manually.

The front door was bolted from the inside as usual.

No ground-floor windows were open or even unlocked. The back door was secure with two locks ... I have a key for neither ... and my attempts to push it in were unsuccessful. The screen porch sliding glass door was secure with a 2 X 4 placed in the track of the movable door.

My husband, at work, suggested that I ought to be able to lift the garage door. I walked to a neighbor's house where I saw two cars parked, assuming one car was the husband's car. It was and he offered to give me a hand. He wasn't successful. He, too, walked around the house looking for weaknesses but didn't find any. So we returned to waiting in the car on the driveway and periodically (every minute!) checking whether the garage door would open.

As usual, the kids were hungry (starving!) and needed to use the bathroom. I found myself in the latter category as well. This is just how we are at the end of the day, anxious to get home and recoup.

The public school bus rode through the neighborhood, dropping off the kids across the street. The concerned nine-year-old walked over to see what she could do for us, and I tried again and the door opened to the delight of my children and her pleasure.