We Survived Hurricane Sandy

Wonder how long before that's on a bumper sticker?

Anyway, Hurricane Sandy has come and gone – or as she was called by many, Frankenstorm. She was big enough on her own, but she also combined with other systems which turned her into a giant, with brutal winds, nasty heavy rain and storm surges we've never seen the likes of before, bearing down on the East Coast like a gigantic bat out of hell. And for some people, hell is what she brought.

New York City didn't fare so well. The flooding boggles my mind. I've never seen anything like this in this area in my lifetime. When I see the images of what happened in lower Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens (OMG! Breezy Point!) it makes me realize just how lucky we were. I have no doubt that New Yorkers will come through this with their usual hardy yet blasé attitude, and will make everything better and stronger than ever.

I live in New Jersey, though, and as I mentioned, we were relatively lucky – we lost power, schools were (and still are for now) closed, and even my office closed for two days. Unfortunately, I have to go back tomorrow. My street survived without too many catastrophes – a few big branches down, some people's cars were damaged, but the power was the worst of it here. And we had a generator that we ran intermittently to keep the fridge going. Borrowed dad's spare – seriously, how many people do you know who have a SPARE generator? Only my dad! lol

However, once you left my nice section of the street (I live on a long, straight boulevard), it turned into a war zone. Trees down everywhere, roads impassable and closed, dangling wires, etc. It was pretty bad, and though we were lucky to get our power back relatively quickly, others are still out and will be for days to come. My parents, who live one town over, will be out for at least a week, if not more. One of their neighbors' trees came down and took everything with it – wires, telephone poles, other trees. Even ripped the meter off one of another neighbor's house!

But all in all, it wasn't as bad here as it could have been. Other places were literally demolished. The horrific nightmare that assaulted the Jersey Shore will haunt me for some time.  My beloved Stone Harbor was under several feet of water last night, though now that it's receded a bit it looks to have survived mostly intact. Our house on 98^th Street appears to be still standing.  Considering the storm came ashore right about there, the lovely seaside haven is very lucky. I've seen the devastation done to other places on the shore, and it just makes my heart ache. As a born and bred Jersey Girl, I spent a good portion of my summers on the shore, in one town or another, with friends or with family. It hurts to know the shoreline will never be the same. I don't know when I'll get back to see everything, most likely next spring or summer, but I am expecting changes, and I'm reasonably sure I won't be too happy about most of them. I've been able to view many pictures some of the hardier souls took as they braved the onslaught, and I know they likely don't come close to the reality of seeing it firsthand. If you've ever been to Seaside or Point Pleasant, you know how nice those boardwalks are, and how much fun. Well, now many of them are pretty much gone. But I have faith in our Jersey folks – we are a tough bunch and we don't back down. We'll rebuild with our usual "we ain't gonna take this crap" attitude. Sandy, you may have made us stumble, but we'll never fall.

I say this because if you ever have the chance and can take the time to really explore NJ, you'll realize just how critical this state is to the forming of our entire country. The place is covered with historic landmarks, and so many of them date back to pre-Revolutionary War years. Many of our successes were planned and strategized here, fought here, and yes, we lost some crucial battles. But without NJ, there might not even be a USA! I think that points to our resilience, and as difficult a time as many of us here in the Garden State are having, we will prevail and we will go on, bigger and better than before!