When electricity becomes a situationship

 Dear Electricity,

We need to talk. This thing we are calling a relationship is not working. 

There is not a single day lately when you show up and stay. Not one. You appear briefly, just long enough to raise my hopes, and then you disappear again. Sometimes for five minutes. Sometimes for an hour. Sometimes for a full day. Sometimes you ghost me completely. 

Electricity, this is emotional abuse. 

What makes it worse is that now we are in the rainy season, and you and rain have a very strong relationship. If it rains, you leave. If it threatens to rain, you leave. If clouds just gather and look serious, you leave. Sometimes it does not even rain. The sky just looks tired and you leave. 

I have really tried to understand your family, Electricity. They tell me you are born at Uganda Electricity Generation Company (UEGCL) Limited. Then they hand you over to Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited (UETCL). Then you are passed to Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited (UEDCL). By the time you reach my house, you are already tired, confused and emotionally unavailable. It is like a long chain of relatives passing a baby, and somewhere between auntie and uncle, the baby gets lost. Sometimes I imagine you being carried in a bucket, then a sack, then a wheelbarrow, then a boda boda, then a taxi, and by the time you arrive in my socket, you decide, "let me rest small small" and you disappear. What confuses me most is that we are producing a lot more electricity than we consume, literally meaning you are available in abundance. 

Electricity you are like that boyfriend who says, "I am on my way" while still in the shower. I have adjusted my life around your moods. When I plug my phone, I whisper prayers.  When I switch on the kettle, I stand there watching. When I open Netflix, I do not browse. I immediately press play because there is no time for indecision. Sometimes you return at 2 a.m. when everyone is asleep, just to show that you still remember us. Then you leave again before morning like a toxic ex. Honestly, what do you want?

Sometimes I imagine you waking up in the morning and checking your schedule:

"Monday: disappear at lunch time like a civil servant in office

Tuesday: vanish during dinner

Wednesday: random blackout for character development

Thursday: full-day outage for wellbeing 

Friday: surprise appearance for 12 minutes." 

And yet, despite everything, I still get excited when you come back. When the lights stay on for two straight hours, I feel like I have achieved something in life. This is not healthy. 

So dear electricity, if you are reading this, please know that I miss you. I do not need you to be perfect. I just need you to be consistent, Even a little bit. If you cannot stay all day, at least tell me when you are leaving and when you will be back. 

From where my feet are, which, now days is usually in the dark, I am learning to laugh at this relationship because crying is too expensive. 

But please know this: I deserve better. 

Yours faithfully,

A very tired Ugandan