HURRICANE SANDY
This is not an article that I’m enjoying writing. I just feel that I must acknowledge the sorrow-filled situation. I’m sure that people from all over the world feel the pain, and I’m just one of them.
But, as a bi-coastal girl since I was a teen-ager, I’m in a curious position. I’m grateful that right now I’m still on the west coast, even though my heart is on the east coast, where half my friends are. There are several I’m still worried about, like my pal Anna who lives right on the beach and is now trying to get the flood out of her house. And Joey, a young guy who recently moved from Brooklyn to Colorado, but still has tons of friends in Breezy Point, a community that was decimated.
The devastation in Breezy Point.
And I still have my Brooklyn house and car there! I can’t tell you how worried I am about them! I won’t be there until next week to assess that situation. I have no idea of what awaits me.
The extra eerie thing is that I was supposed to be there now! My mother’s unveiling was originally scheduled for the day before the hurricane! If I hadn’t had some health issues that kept me grounded for a few extra weeks, I would have been sitting in a big house all alone during the hurricane! I shiver every time I imagine that.
But then I would have been there to help out, which is frustrating that I’m not. Almost all my mental focus is over there, and my head keeps spinning. I’m torn between wishing I was there to help, and being relieved that I’m not. It’s a really uncomfortable feeling.
Even though Los Angeles is my main residence, I’ve been spending at least three different months in New York each year. In the last several years, I’ve experienced many hard weather situations there; the great blizzard of 2010, last year’s Hurricane Irene, a nor’easter, even last summer’s earthquake! I think I caught a break missing Sandy by just a few days.
Speaking of “Sandy,” I hate that name! It sounds too friendly and frivolous, not what something so evil should be called. I know it has to be a female moniker, beginning with “S,” that has never been used before, but I’m sure there were better choices. How about Sheniqua, if they’re out of the more common ones? So, I’m just calling it “the hurricane.”
Since I always go along with the adage “life goes on,” this is probably all I’ll say about the sadness. I’m moving on to happier topics tomorrow, but please know that the plight of those affected by the devastation is never far from my mind.
