I’ve had a very hard time writing this blog. I must have started it at least four times, only to stop and hit delete. Don’t get me wrong, I could write a book about the damage and destruction caused by Sandy as it whipped up the coast, and gusted the heck out of my neighborhood. I was frustrated over losing power, and scared by downed live wires in front of our home. And I definitely had a good cry over the beautiful old trees that we lost. But, in the wake of what could have been for us, and what is for so many people, lost power and branch clean-up are small potatoes. An inconvenience, and nothing more. So instead, I’m going to tell you about the good that came from this storm. And there was a lot of good.
First, I’ll tell you that the boys weathered the hurricane like two pint-sized storm-chasers. For them, it was an adventure. They spent the day Monday in their pajamas, doing crafts, playing and watching movies:
During the worst of it, Monday night, we hunkered down as a family in the basement. With glow-sticks. Totally bliss for two silly boys!
The boys amaze me. Their resilience is something that I can learn from. Sandy was the scariest storm that I have ever been though. Cuddled in the basement, with Lamby and Moo, Benjamin and Nicholas were happy, calm, and snug as bugs.
Something else that amazed me? How a crisis can bring people together. How it can bring out the inherent good in each of us. When everything else gets stripped away, you realize anew what’s really important – and it’s not the T.V. or the lights or the Internet.
Throughout the storm, my cell phone beeped non-stop with family and friends looking for updates, and offering words of encouragement. My brother sent a poem about hurricane winds to lighten the mood; my sister texted a picture of her cat being silly, just to make me laugh. My parents called repeatedly to check-in. Friends texted all day to get and give updates. We felt cocooned in love and concern.
Our neighborhood banded together in the aftermath of the storm. Within minutes of the power going out, neighbors were calling and texting to check-in on each other. Our local firemen knocked on the door during the height of the wind, warning us to stay inside because of the live wires, asking us if there was anything that we needed. Anything that we needed? They were outside, risking their lives. Seems to me that we should have been making that offer to them. They were - and are - the heroes.
The day after the storm, good friends down the road loaned us their generator. What a difference a generator makes! I will be eternally grateful. Our neighbors across the street, who managed to hang-on to their power, offered us hot showers whenever we wanted. My next-door-neighbors helped us clear the branches from our yard, using their pick-up to tow everything away to the town compost. We helped with their branches. These same neighbors brought me a vase full of leaves, remains from my lost tree, to decorate my dining-room table, And last Saturday, a group of us started down at one end of the street, and made our way up, cleaning the debris out of each other’s yards. The boss of a neighbor’s boyfriend (how’s that for degrees of separation?), loaned out his dump-truck to haul branches. We raked each other’s leaves. Throughout the week, friends and neighbors called with offers of hot meals, invited us for playdates to keep the kids busy and warm, and asked what they could do to help. We were even given gift cards for dinners out - can you believe it? How incredibly generous!
Sandy brought my neighborhood closer together. People slowed down, even in the midst of cleaning-up, and talked to each other. Neighbors got to know one another better. Opinions changes, understandings were formed, friendships were made.
There is no way that I could ever repay all the kindness shown to us last week. Instead, as I’ve written in other blogs, I’ll pay it forward. We’ll continue to help with clean-up, and Pierre and I are making a donation for Sandy relief to the American Red Cross. If you are looking for a way to help, why not do the same? We were lucky during the storm, many were not. We lost power, others lost everything.
Life is getting back to normal for us this week. More blogs to come.
xo Naomi
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