After the storm: A Mainer’s resolve

OTTER CREEK, Maine (WABI) - Katie Massicotte lost her boyfriend of 20 years and father to her son just two months ago.

“I felt bad because this is not how my 14-year old son wants to spend his Christmas, the first one without his dad. It was already hard enough and then you throw the no power thing into it. It’s not been the best of Christmas but at least we were together.”

Massicotte lost power late Friday afternoon, and was told it might not be back until as late as Thursday. Her and her son live on a dead end road in Otter Creek, and her home is one of only four on the entire street that is a year-round residence.

“We got lumped together in the seasonal part of the district for the territory. Pretty much we’re at the low end of the totem pole.”

Massicotte says temperatures inside the house dropped below 40 degrees all four nights they slept there, despite borrowing a generator from an uncle on Christmas Eve. Emergency equipment she had never used, much less tried to start. Through it all, Massicotte says she refused to leave her home to stay somewhere else.

“We have a futon in my living room and we put a whole bunch of sheets down and a whole bunch of blankets, and me and my son just snuggled and slept together. I needed to be here to make sure that the basement didn’t flood too much. I had to go fill up gas cans, I’ve been filling up jugs so we could use the bathroom here. Plus, the kitty was getting cold and I just didn’t think it was right to leave him here by himself to fend for himself. I had plenty of neighbors offer, but I also need to learn how to do this stuff on my own, being a single mom, and I’d like to show my son how to do it. So I feel like it’s more of a learning experience. It’s what I’m going to chalk it up as.”

Massicotte’s resolve since the storm passed has been nothing short of remarkable.

“I can’t just break down and cry when things don’t go my way even though I really just wanted to do that because I was really struggling for the first couple of days. But finally you get into a groove and you feel like you’ve got it under control and you just go with it because if you stop and have your pity party, then that just means something might fall to the wayside and you might have a problem that you can’t get yourself out of.”

And when the power finally did come back late Tuesday morning?

“I was just out here singing. I was pouring the gas in the generator, a country song, so I’m sure my neighbors were like, ‘What the hell is she doing?’ But I was so excited.”

Excited, and now far more ready for the next time.

“I’m very well acquainted with the generator now.”

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