Welcome Amigo. Darned good post. Having been through one similar while living in Puyallup back in the 70's and a lifetime of experience since, let me respond to your lessons:

Lesson #1: I keep a pair of two way business band portable radios at home programmed with municipal emergency frequencies. If I need to contact a local unit in an emergency, I am not all to concerned about violating an FCC regulation or two while doing it (incidentally, I went ahead and acquired an FCC GRT license, good for life, which I use as a pretense to access goverment service radio all the time).

Lesson #2: As a general rule, when the nasty comes, I find it best to stay in place and not take unnecessary risks. See Lesson 1 for keeping informed.
Lesson 3: Pay attention to the local surroundings a bit more now. If the broadcast groups aren't reliable for your area, find a source that is that you can contact in an emergency. See response to Lesson 1.

Lesson 4: I bought a couple of those wind up am/fm/siren/led light products up at Costco and keep one handy wherever I rest my head these days. I also got one of those crank up Grundig models with shortwave capability, just for giggles. No worries about batteries or light bulbs anymore.

Lesson 5: A car is a poor but expedient replacement for a small generator in some cases. Now that you own a generator, you won't have to worry about using your car for something other than to bug out.

Lesson 6: Making fire at home ought to be vastly improved over making fire on the move. Logistically, it would be really inexpensive to stock excellent firemaking items at home without any undue encumberance. Still, learning the skills is always the first priority.

Lesson 7: Sounds like a warm week at elk camp, except with all the amenities of home (a shower even...). Having the ability to function without modern utiltiy conveniences, like when I spend a week or two at elk camp, has given me the mindset to always have that provision ready to go. I keep my grub boxes packed, my propane tanks filled, and my water jugs topped off, when I am home. When I am TDY, as I am now, well, I come up with alternatives. Finding a companion that will tolerate my lifestyle choices? Well, that is the challenge of a lifetime ain't it? or it ought to be I reckon. When cold, the little dog will find the warmest blanket in the house, usually the one I am under, and snuggle down in it.

I view generators as a luxury in such events. Ultimately you'd be better off if you could find a way to do without, but it sounds like you made the right choice here. I prefer diesel to gas, but finding a small gen made for diesel is an exercise in futility. Generators are handy for keeping the refrigerator and freezer functional so you don't lose food supplies, so I reckon that is worthy enough considering how hard I work for my elk meat.

Lesson 9: Due to the type of work I do now, I find that those little microlight keychain type LED flashlights are EDC compared to when I was a working tech and could belt loop a mini mag. I still keep those hand crank LED flashlights handy at home, as well as a couple LED pop up type portable lanterns. For emergency lighting at home, I have about a dozen oil lamps spread out over the house. They aren't the brightest lightsource, but they are there when I need them. I have a few lamps that have kept the same oil in them for 5 years on the mantle, and they light just as nice and make good light to function by at night, and add a few hundred btus to the mix. Did I mention how cheap they were? Maybe I spent a hundred bucks for all 12. The oil is cheap and most lamps will last a week on one fill with regular nightly use.

Lesson 10: I used to muck around with coleman stoves at camp. Then I got smart and bought a big camp chef HD propane stove. Three 25,000 btu burners produce enough heat to do all my kitchen work at elk camp for a full week on one 20 lb tank. With that and my dutch ovens and occasionally a charcoal or wood fire, I can crank out a pile of some of the best food I can make. A good camp dutch oven or two (the type with a lip around the top of the lid for holding embers on top) will work well in the fireplace for heating, baking, roasting, boiling, frying. They were made for using with a wood fire at camp, and ought to adapt well to fireplace use, depending on the room you have. Contrary to popular belief, they are also quite easy to maintain and clean. There's been a few times where my 4 quart recipe of beef stroganoff sure made a big difference in my outlook on the day.

Lesson 11: See lesson 7. Pets at home are smart and a lot more tolerant than us humans.