Surviving Sandy

What do you do when you're stuck inside for 48 hours because of an approaching hurricane? Apparently, anything you want. Popcorn for lunch? Sure. Movies all day? Why not? Yesterday was such a calm, relaxing day that I barely noticed the rain and winds picking up. We were just chillin' at home with everyone safe inside which gave me great comfort. Maybe that's why all I wanted to do was eat all day.  Seriously, I had an insane amount of food just waiting to get cooked, so that I did.  We had french toast, eggs and bacon for breakfast followed by leftover brisket, potatoes, carrots and cauliflower gratin for lunch.  By dinner time I wasn't even sure I could eat again, but I managed to roast a pork tenderloin and some brussel sprouts.  Yes, this "perfect storm" was wreaking havoc in my stomach if not the neighborhood. Elisa was happy to have a full audience for her dancing shenanigans and Carolina bounded around the apartment like she owned the place. Pretty much business as usual, except it wasn't.  There were very high winds rattling the windows and shaking the walls, but I was determined to keep the drama inside down. I don't think Elisa is a worry wart, but I really didn't want to talk too much about the storm in front of her. All she knew was that school was closed and there was a lot of wind and rain coming.  Fortunately, the day passed peacefully and by 6 p.m. we visited our neighbors downstairs for an impromptu playdate just before dinner. The winds picked up after dark and by the time I put the girls down around 8:30 p.m., it was blowing pretty good out there. 

Somehow the sense that families all over the city were in the same boat was also comforting. We were all going through this "together" in a way, and I turned to Facebook for much of the day to get a sense of how things were progressing. It's an amazing benefit of social media that we can simultaneously experience something like a major storm and share our thoughts, find humor in the crazy circumstances, and sometimes rage against the injustices. I'll never forget the surreal image of Jane's Carousel on the Brooklyn waterfront completely surrounded by lapping water yet aglow in the stormy night.  Hearing that 1/3 of Manhattan had lost power, that houses in Breezy Point were on fire, and that places like NYU Hospital--where Elisa was born into the NICU--were evacuating in the middle of the storm brought home the immensity of this storm.  And it reminded me that we were very lucky to be sitting in a warm, well lit apartment 6 floors up on the high ground in Queens. It's definitely times like that when I realize home ownership is not always a better option, especially when you hear that most of Long Island and the outlying suburbs are facing days, if not weeks, without power. 

By 11:30 p.m.  Nacho and I went to bed with cautious optimism that the worst was over. And by early morning, I felt relief when I could barely hear the wind outside. Waking up today around 7:30 a.m., I was glad to see the rain lifting and the trees hardly moving. Lots of friends began posting pics of the fallen trees in Sunnyside Gardens which damaged several cars but thankfully no houses or people. Even amidst this destruction and the loss of some truly majestic trees, I feel so fortunate that most of the people and places I care about were okay. It could have been much, much worse. But for now, we wait for the city to dry out and start the trains again. Nacho almost got stuck waiting the storm out in Chicago, but he thankfully declined the trip and took the consequences of that. Seeing Laguardia underwater still, and knowing it will be a few more days before planes are landing here again, makes me realize we were very lucky to have him home with us this whole week. I don't know if Elisa will remember much about this storm, but I know it will be something I look back on in years to come with a strange sense of reprieve.  For our family, Sandy wasn't as bad as I feared, but for some in this city we call home, it was much worse.  How fickle fate can be.