I suppose at this point, I could argue that I'm going for authenticity as far as the whole "postcard" thing goes. At least in the sense that it takes a long time to receive a postcard and it never really tells you much ;-) Good thing you're a forgiving bunch, eh?
Sandy. Hurricane Sandy. Superstorm Sandy. So that happened. We were really so lucky in our part of the state - lots of people without power, including me, for a week or more, but that was basically it. I'm sure you saw or at least caught glimpses of the devastation at the shore and in the city. I think I'd pretty much gotten shell-shocked by all the images by the time we started hearing about massive snowfall and crazy waves on the great lakes.
So, let's see. On the Saturday before the storm, Pam came up for a visit and it was really good to see her. We went for a long walk, had lunch and talked and talked. Like old times :-) She was still there when I met with a landscaper about dealing with the overgrowth at my grandparents' house. (I'm still waiting to hear what that estimate is.) On Sunday, after church, I had lunch with the man I'm seeing - more about that later! :-D The Seminary decided over the weekend to close on Monday and Tuesday, October 29-30 because of the weather forecast. We all hoped the models were about to be proven wrong. They weren't.
Monday night was one of the most unsettling nights I've ever had. I wasn't as out and out terrified as I had been during the tornado in Bloomington - you know, the one that came days after most of Joplin, MO had been flattened and my mom's cousin was nearly killed and literally lost her house. But the wind was wild that Monday night, roaring all night long with occasional eerie pauses. I sat on the couch and sang some of Handel's Messiah to calm myself (and the cats) by flashlight when the power had gone out, and then I went to bed and tried to get some sleep.
Aunt Cherry took me in for the week, because she lives in a neighborhood where the wires are all underground, and she never lost power.
Every day, I waited to hear from the Seminary about whether power had been restored and if we could come in to work. I'd brought a couple of ALA Tech Set books home over the weekend, and I did read almost all of one of them - but it was generally hard to focus on that stuff when I kept seeing footage of the shore on Aunt Cherry's TV and reading about things in the paper. The church where my aunt works opened at least part of its facilities as a shelter, and Aunt Cherry got really busy with that. I offered to help, but she never called on me. I made some curried butternut squash soup (Nora, you created a legacy! I've been passing the recipe along :-)) to share with the people taking shelter, but Aunt Cherry said they didn't need it, so we ate it. I helped her gather up all the twigs/branches in her yard, kept checking on my friend who's having a baby in a few weeks and her husband and their four cats (because they'd lost power, too, and don't drive), went over to my apartment at least twice every day to feed and otherwise check in with my cats. (My aunt is allergic, so I couldn't bring them to her place. She lives about 1.5 miles from my place. So, even after my parents got their power back four days before mine came back on, I kept the cats at my place and slept at Aunt Cherry's. My parents live about 20-25 minutes from me and my aunt.) Halloween was postponed to Monday, November 5. I voted in a different location than where I would normally go, because some districts were rerouted due to power outages; but at least I still got to vote!
Anyway, as I said, we were lucky. I lost a week of work (but still got paid) and some groceries. That's it. All of the FPC folks already know this, but if you want to help in the recovery effort, please consider giving to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (which has established a special account for long-term recovery from Sandy).
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