Frankenstorm
Last year on this date there were no children in costumes, at least not in this part of NJ. There was a hurricane instead. A few days before, all of the major news channels were telling New Jerseans to stalk up on water, dried food and find shelter. Many towns around us were evacuated. We looked at each other blankly and said, "Is this really happening?" and it was. Like little robots we mechanically did what the National Weather Service suggested. We drove to Wal-Mart with a list of things we should buy to survive a hurricane. I felt my stomach in my throat as I checked items off imagining having to use each one. Images of Hurricane Katrina were in my mind and I hoped that it wouldn't be that bad.
The air was still, the birds quiet, school canceled. Nothing moved. No one moved. I hoped it was an over dramatization on the part of the weather channel. The sky told us that danger was coming.
We were staying in a temporary hotel and had no where to go if we needed to. That night we parked our car high in a garage, just in case the flood waters did reach so high. We unplugged every electric device.
I remembered being small and watching "The Wizard of Oz" and how Auntie Ann needed to run in the basement to hide from the tornado. The radio said to sleep far from windows and to cover them if possible. We covered the window with everything we could find including my yoga mat and our bed like a giant shield.
If glass would blow in it wouldn't hurt us. We hauled the bed's box spring over the window in the bedroom and pushed the mattress off of the bed frame across the bedroom into the corner furthest from the window and covered their cage with a sheet to protect them.
Bentley and Fatty looked solemn. They didn't stir or even peep when I put them in their cage and in the corner of the living room far from the windows.
Night came and still air. As the darkness lingered we began to hear a gentle hum, the windows started to shake.
Their glass was bending with the deep breaths of the world outside bringing on a hurricane. We decided to tape the windows to keep the glass together if it exploded. He taped quietly telling me to stay far. Once we were as secure as we could be we went to sleep on the bed on the floor. The pressure was light and we slept like babies.
The light of morning came and we awoke refreshed with the best sleep of our lives. I thought the storm couldn't have been that bad so decided to go for a drive. Bad choice. The neighbors windows had all exploded from the pressure. Ours didn't. Trees were fallen, houses burned, homes destroyed.
There was no electricity for 2 weeks. Senior citizens were warming their homes by boiling water.
Hurricane Sandy made me miss Italy, especially the solid home built well from stone and cement. But it also made me proud to see how people from New Jersey pulled together to help each other out. Those who lost everything were given things by total strangers. Families and communities gave up spending on themselves for Christmas to buy bed sheets and new towels for families that were left with nothing.
I hope no other hurricane ever rocks NJ. It is something I would hate to see again.
The air was still, the birds quiet, school canceled. Nothing moved. No one moved. I hoped it was an over dramatization on the part of the weather channel. The sky told us that danger was coming.
We were staying in a temporary hotel and had no where to go if we needed to. That night we parked our car high in a garage, just in case the flood waters did reach so high. We unplugged every electric device.
I remembered being small and watching "The Wizard of Oz" and how Auntie Ann needed to run in the basement to hide from the tornado. The radio said to sleep far from windows and to cover them if possible. We covered the window with everything we could find including my yoga mat and our bed like a giant shield.
If glass would blow in it wouldn't hurt us. We hauled the bed's box spring over the window in the bedroom and pushed the mattress off of the bed frame across the bedroom into the corner furthest from the window and covered their cage with a sheet to protect them.
Bentley and Fatty looked solemn. They didn't stir or even peep when I put them in their cage and in the corner of the living room far from the windows.
Night came and still air. As the darkness lingered we began to hear a gentle hum, the windows started to shake.
Their glass was bending with the deep breaths of the world outside bringing on a hurricane. We decided to tape the windows to keep the glass together if it exploded. He taped quietly telling me to stay far. Once we were as secure as we could be we went to sleep on the bed on the floor. The pressure was light and we slept like babies.
The light of morning came and we awoke refreshed with the best sleep of our lives. I thought the storm couldn't have been that bad so decided to go for a drive. Bad choice. The neighbors windows had all exploded from the pressure. Ours didn't. Trees were fallen, houses burned, homes destroyed.
 |
| Electric lines dangled like shoestrings burning trees and homes |
 |
| trees fell over like dominos |
There was no electricity for 2 weeks. Senior citizens were warming their homes by boiling water.
Hurricane Sandy made me miss Italy, especially the solid home built well from stone and cement. But it also made me proud to see how people from New Jersey pulled together to help each other out. Those who lost everything were given things by total strangers. Families and communities gave up spending on themselves for Christmas to buy bed sheets and new towels for families that were left with nothing.
I hope no other hurricane ever rocks NJ. It is something I would hate to see again.
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