Last night, from 6 to 7 pm, was perhaps the best OhmHour yet (that’s when we turn off the electricity for an hour and get paid by OhmConnect). We sat at the dinner table with candles and a flashlight going. My husband asked for a notebook and I jumped up and handed him one that I had just found in a free box on the street. It was tiny so he had to cramp over it, but he started free writing and once he got going, he did it for quite some time, writing about his life growing up and how it compares to what our teenager and young adult experience.

Next, the 14-year-old surprised me by asking for more notebook paper and some pens. He then spent a long time drawing and tracing old-style cartoons from his phone. They turned out great, if a little disturbing, since they were from a rather violent rapper he likes.

I sat and finished up Back Blast, a spy/action novel I got from a free library. I had grabbed it because I was intrigued by a quote on the cover from another author I enjoy, Lee Child, praising the hero if this book: The Gray Man.

Meanwhile, my other son apparently was sitting outside in the treehouse watching YouTube videos. When the OhmHour was nearly up, I went out back and saw him sitting under the stars, near the circuit breaker. “We can turn on the lights now,” I said. He shook his head and pointed to the clock on his phone. “Not yet. It’s not 7 pm.”