Hurricane Sandy

This past Monday the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States was absolutely devastated by a hurricane that collided with a nor'easter.  Schools were closed here on Monday and Tuesday and, of course, we were very worried about my family, friends and co-workers in New Jersey.  In the end, we just had some very profound wind and rain.  Around 70 roads in our county were closed after the storm due to downed trees and flooding.  The Garden State, however, was hit very hard.  Sandy came ashore in southern New Jersey near Cape May at high tide on the day of the full moon.  The water damage to the coast and to New York City is pretty much unimaginable.  Luckily, no one I love or care about suffered more than lost electricity and cable TV.  As of today, however, the death toll is over 100 and literally hundreds of thousands of people have no where to live.  Houses that were there on Sunday were gone on Tuesday-wiped off the map.  Manhattan was dark for days.   The subway system is flooded.  It is not a exaggeration to say that the images coming out of there are downright apocalyptic. 

Mother Nature is a bitch when she wants to be.

For me,  the most profound thing is the damage to Seaside Heights and Park...the boardwalk beach towns where I grew up and spent my summers.  Its where I played with my Pop-Pop as a little girl and built sandcastles and dug big holes (Wow, that wave totally knocked his bathing suit off!).  Its where I goofed off as a teenager--ditching school early as soon as it got warm to go over and lay on the beach with my friends (Sunblock, nah.  We used baby oil and IODINE).   Its where I first got drunk and chased guys and was generally stupid (The Bamboo Bar--no appropriate stories to share here).  In short, its the place in our memory that all have...a place that somehow sort of makes us what we are but that we leave behind to move on to better and other places and things.  That place, wherever it is,  never really leaves us.  But now, for me, that place is changed.   The boardwalk is devastated.  Buildings are gone.   It won't ever, ever be the same.

I'm grateful I lost nothing substantive.  But I'm sad for the place and the people.  

Visible Satellite image of Sandy before she came ashore

Connor just rode this coaster in July. 

Casino Pier

Washed away homes

Blue Devil Peak

We're headed to the playoffs next weekend.  The boys are ready.  Here they are today, looking their fiercest, on the hill they conquered all season long. GO BLUE DEVILS!!