Well...here I am. Sitting on my couch with the heat going, a toasted bagel with fresh cream cheese, Waverly in her swing all clean and warm after having a good nights sleep in our own beds. I am lucky. It has been hard for me to remember that this past week, but after being able to see the news over the past couple days and seeing pictures of the Jersey Shore and Hoboken...I need to remember that we are lucky.
You are lucky too...everyday we take it for granted that we have power, clean water, and gas in our cars. We should all take a moment each day to remember that we are blessed.
Although I am trying to remember how lucky I am...I have complained a lot this past week, because it has been a very hard week. I have never been through something like this in my life and it was stressful. I won't lie...there are been many tears and moments of frustration.
Hurricane Sandy hit on high tides and in one of the most populated areas of the country...what a doozy. Afterward, many of us in NY and NJ felt like this tree in our front yard...uprooted.
We live in Bedminster NJ, which is north-central-west New Jersey. The two things that devastated the north half of New Jersey were water and trees. Our town is a very wooded, beautiful area that has a TON of trees...trees that took out houses, cars, and power lines when they fell. We were one of the last areas that didn't get flooded to regain power due to the number of outages from all the trees down.
siding that flew into the tree by our bedroom window...waverly's window is the one behind that bush.
tree that fell into a small fenced in dog run by our house.
in case you didn't notice the tree, they put a cone on it to say "warning"...ha.
In our neighborhood and the towns around us, there were tons of massive trees that went through roofs and are leaning on houses. I heard a story about a guy I work with that had a tree come down on him in his car...pinning him inside. Luckily he is ok, but when you hear stories like that, you know you're lucky to be safe. Other people we know had their cars swept away by water on the street or destroyed when the garage in their building flooded.
Hoboken is disaster and basically a lake. One of my reps lives there and had a hard time getting out of his building, but once the water's receded some, he could leave and had parked his car high enough in the garage that it didn't get damaged. It also weird to think that I was just at the shore in Seaside Heights and Cape May this past spring and summer for work...two places where the ocean took over the town.
Picture I got online of the Hoboken path station...the train that goes from NY to Hoboken NJ. Nick went through this station everyday on his way to work when we lived in NYC.
pretty cool picture of people sharing their power for others to charge their phones in Hoboken. charging our phones became a necessity to know what was going on, but cell phone service was in and out.
Our old neighborhood in NYC...west village...also got flooded. The riverwalk along the Hudson where we walked Cole everyday was completely flooded and the water came up 3 blocks to our old block. I just saw on facebook that our favorite coffee shop, west 11th st cafe survived which made me happy! Mom, we'll be able to get Hazelnut coffee there again someday :)
11th street cafe is fully back in action!
Here are the things we did because of Sandy:
-stocked up on water, ice, firewood, food, and batteries
-listened to scary loud winds and heard trees swaying and siding being ripped off the house and land in the tree near our window
-gathered our baby and pup to sleep in our room as the storm hit
-lost power monday at 9pm
-took note of the damage in the neighborhood. Lots of large trees down...luckily they went away from the house....some people in our neighborhood were not so lucky....
-hunkered down in the house with a fire for 3 days
-cooked on the grill
-carved pumpkins by candlelight
-ate halloween candy because halloween was cancelled
-played board games
-watched Ghostbusters on Halloween on our laptop
-had our neighbors over 3 nights in a row to keep each other company
-slept in our living room bundled up by the fire
-didn't shower
-didn't feel like changing clothes
-saw lines of cars MILES long waiting for gas
-waited in line for 30 mins for gas and were so grateful not to wait longer and not to run out of gas!
-heard stories of people getting in fights at gas stations, siphoning gas from people's cars, and stealing generators
-charged our phones in our cars
-stayed at friend's houses who got their power back
-borrowed neighbor's firewood
-communicated with friends and neighbors via text and email to update each other on gas stations without lines, stores that were open, and the power situation
ready.
water and firewood (which we had to get more of later)
patio furniture and pumpkins, safe inside.
cooler of ice ready for our fridge items.
waiting for gas!
i wear my hat inside...so what?!
dark night of board games
layers and many blankets!
our set up....yes, my socks are pulled up to keep me warm.
Finally we decided to leave for Nick's mom's house in Delaware...it was great to arrive there to heat, power, and a hot shower. On Friday we headed to Dewey Beach in Delaware to stay with friends and attend the wedding of some good friends that weekend. It was so relaxing to be in the company of friends, to laugh, and enjoy being away.
Our power was restored this past Sunday just as we arrived home from Delaware. However, our heat was broken...in the power outage, a wire that connected the furnace to the power source blew. So Waverly and I had a sleepover with my good friend Allison (who I met in prenatal yoga) and her baby Brooke who is 2 weeks younger than Waverly. I was so thankful for her hospitality. Nick and Cole snuggled together at our place which made them both very happy...even in the cold. Someone came to fix our heat the next day, so by 4pm Monday we were back in business!
blown wire preventing us from being warm
There are still SO MANY people dealing with the aftermath of this storm...people just like you and me lost everything because their home or business was flooded or damaged. If you can - donate to the
Red Cross.
On a positive note...we tried to celebrate Halloween (because we love it) and I still dressed up Waverly...in 3 outfits! (what else did i have to do?) She's too cute...like a little doll to dress!
indoor halloween decorations in the dark
carving pumpkins
pumpkins lit up outside...fire lit up inside.
outfit #1...cute halloween dress
outfit #2...a cat who likes candy!
outfit #3...a sweet little pumpkin who is tired and ready for bed
tomorrow comes another storm which we're hoping is just snow and goes easy on us...say your prayers that the power doesn't go out and get restored before the snow for those that don't have it yet!
