Hurricane Sandy

As you most likely know, last week my part of the country was severely damaged by the "superstorm" known as Hurricane Sandy. This is what I can say about its immediate impact on me personally:

The house where I have been living the past year or so is, as far as I know, still without power. It has lost a few trees (none of which hit the house as far as I can tell), and the back cover of a side mirror on a friend's car I was watching while she was overseas has gone missing. My landlady is without heat or light in the house, but she does have a fireplace and a generator, so she's doing better than many.

Knowing about the storm in advance, I was able to get down to my girlfriend's house before it struck. We lost power there for a few days but have had it back for almost a week now. Her sister's house is still without power, so she and her child have been staying here as well. My friend's flight was supposed to come in the day Sandy struck, so she ended up coming in a few days later. Having power and heat, we were able to take her in for a couple of days while she waited for her girlfriend to be able to get back into the country. We were also able to give a ride to a friendly stranger who had arrived back in this country and was unable to get in touch with her family to arrange a ride, since internet and phone services were still impaired at that time. Apart from some minor to moderate tree damage and a mysterious flat tire on my car (no apparent holes, maybe somebody let the air out?) there was no other damage to this house.

The place where I work is, to my knowledge, still without power but is otherwise undamaged (despite being relatively close to the beach at Belmar). We have all lost several days of work, and since there is no paying clientele while we're closed, there is no way to compensate us for time lost. Even if we had been able to reopen on Monday, I wouldn't have been fit to work, since I've picked up the nasty virus that's been going around this house for the past week. The virus has also cost me three separate opportunities to volunteer my services as a massage therapist to the firefighters and other workers being overtaxed by patching things up in the aftermath of the hurricane.

In other words: I have been very, very, very, VERY, VERY fortunate. Many people are still without power in this state and in others. Many people suffered severe flood damage. Many lost their homes altogether. Some have even lost their lives. Boardwalks, homes, and businesses have been washed away. Fires have rampaged. Trees have been uprooted. Public transportation was devastated. Gas lines still go on for miles in some areas. But in my small corner of the universe, I and my loved ones have been virtually untouched. And for this I cannot be grateful enough.

My family is safe. My friends are safe. I am safe. I have a home with electricity and heat that I am welcome to stay in until my other home is habitable. I have a job when the power comes back on. I have a car to get there. I have lost nothing but a little bit of time and a little bit of money.

I am incredibly, almost impossibly, fortunate.