What Sandy Taught Me...

    So, nearly a week after the worst storm I have ever lived through, my city is still picking up the pieces.  There are parts of my city that will be picking up the pieces for a long time and the emotional pieces forever.  I have learned a lot about the people around me and even more about myself.  Sandy barreled her way across the Northeast and left 115 people dead, billions in property damaged and countless lives affected.  Everyone will take away something different.  I need to write it down so I can get it out.

1. Storm tracking software has gotten a lot better.  In the early days of storm tracking models were off... way off.  The software has gotten better and so have the people using it.  Chances are more likely that the track being forecast is relatively accurate.
2. Other people panicking can be contagious.  So, on the Friday before the storm I went out to go food shopping.  It was my regular shopping day and time.  I do the middle of the night because it is easier and usually more well stocked than Saturday morning.  My first clue was the number of cars in the parking lot.  My third-space-in spot that I had grown accustomed to ended up being a rolling troll for someone coming out.  I found a space only to find that milk, eggs and bread were flying off the shelves.  At this point, I started to feel a little antsy and the nail in the coffin of panic was the lady in the overcoat passing out pamphlets proclaiming the "End of Days."
3. Your kids, no matter what age, think you are crazy.  My eldest son told me I was a "Doomsday Prepper."   The youngest simply wanted to remind me to bring cereal and Teddy Grahams.   Then I got street cred when the Governor started closing bridges.  I was glad he decided to ride out the storm with me and his little brother.  
4. Storms will bring out the best and worst in people.  Donating time, food, and money.  Price gouging, gas lines and meanness.  So, we all saw the destruction in Seaside Heights and Breezy Point and Far Rockaway.  We saw people mobilizing to help and and we saw people looting.  We saw stories of courage and we saw zealots say that it was the wrath of God.  I prefer to think it was a live re-enactment of the story of the Good Samaritan.  
5. People will no longer laugh when I call and say get cash and gasoline.  This is my typical phone call before any impending emergency.  I think it is important to be able to drive away and have money to go somewhere else.  
6. I cooked away my nerves.  So, I think my crew gained five pounds because I cooked and cooked and cooked.  It was therapeutic.
7. Get out when they say get out.  I think this goes without saying.  Some people have no place to leave to, be a neighbor and share if you can.  People don't leave because of all the false alarms in the past.  It is a new day.  The tech is better and faster.  Get out if they tell you to.  It may save your life.
8. Many of my Facebook friends are really good peoples.  The support and caring, the "east-coast-people-hit-me-up statuses, the come charge your phone statuses were all appreciated.  

    The final and most important thing that I learned is something I knew already but had to pause to remember.  My life is good.  I have a family.  I am loved.  I have some "things."  At the end of any day, it is good to be able to say that and have it be true.