Hurricane Sandy

It's been one week since Hurricane Sandy showed her ugly face. I know many of y'all up and down the coast were affected, but it was particularly bad to us New Yorkers and our friends in New Jersey. Thanks to everyone who sent texts and messages asking how we fared. To say last week was surreal is quite an understatement.

On Sunday night and Monday morning, I stocked the fridge, made sure there were candles, matches and flashlights at close proximity and walked Miss Bailey a few extra times in preparation for the storm of the century, as the media called it.

Then I waited, and waited and waited. The windows shook, but only for a little bit. It rained, but not anything that I hadn't seen before. I thought to myself, "This is it?" When I got into bed on Monday night, I could hear the sounds of ambulances (and lots of them) and I thought "It's bad somewhere, but where??" And I was right. Then, came the morning.

Though the upper parts of Manhattan were relatively unscathed, lower Manhattan and the outer boroughs were not. I felt a little guilty even, walking down the street on 86th and Columbus, you would have never known there was a storm the night before. Then, I walked towards Central Park and saw this.
Look at this piece of plywood that flew into the tree
But, it was much much worse downtown.

Many of my friends lost power downtown, so we took in Lower East Siders and West Villagers who wanted to watch the news, recharge their phones and take a hot shower. News came each day that our offices were closed - no work today, no work today, no work today. That lasted a full week.

But, just as quickly as the storm came in, so did New Yorkers who wanted to help. In my elevator I saw this
Then I walked outside and saw strangers loading trucks full of supplies to those in Rockaway Beach and NJ. People helping people. It feels so good to see.
Hopefully y'all fared well too and things are getting back to normal for you. If you are interested in donating to the relief efforts, check out these organizations:
Feeding America
Baptist on Mission
Red Cross
Humane Society

Stay safe!