Guess Who's Back

Thanks, everybody, for all of your concern and well wishes.  After 10 days without power due to Hurricane Sandy, I'm finally back on the grid.  Luckily we were on vacation for 6 of those days (photos coming soon), but the few we endured without electricity, heat, hot water, or the ability to cook a hot meal were less than ideal.  At first hunny bunny and I were excited to sit in a romantic, candle lit apartment and chat while eating snacks & drinking beer, but after a few hours of breathing the cloying, nausea-inducing smells of about 20 oxygen-sucking scented candles, and realizing that there'd be no TV to chase away the boredom, the novelty wore off pretty quickly.  Fortunately, a bunch of wonderful volunteer workers from Ohio came to personally restore my town's power.  Without them and their generosity, I can only speculate as to how long we'd still be without electricity.  It truly made my day when we went out for a run on Saturday and saw them hanging out, waiting for their next assignment.  We stopped to talk with them for a bit and express our sincere gratitude for their kindness.  Not only were they friendly and just downright nice, but they were genuinely happy to help, and were excited to learn where they'd be sent to help next.  To know that there are people like these men, who are willing to leave their families for 2 weeks, drive hundreds of miles, work during a cold and windy snowstorm, and even miss their chance to vote in the presidential election, and who do it all with a smile on their face, warms my heart and makes me proud to be part of the human race.

{that's me in front of this year's Christmas tree}

Don't get me wrong, besides a fridge full of rotten food and a large tree falling in our yard (miraculously missing everything and landing in a spot where nothing and nobody were), we came out relatively unscathed.  But it is heartbreaking to see the massive damage and destruction Sandy caused to other parts of NJ and NYC.  The Jersey shore is no more.  Parts of New York's subway system and tunnels were flooded, downtown Manhattan was underwater; there was fire, flooding, destruction, and death.  Sandy is in the top 5 worst storms this country has ever seen, causing more damage than Katrina did to New Orleans.  Some families have lost everything and have nothing to wear, nothing to eat, and no place to call home.  If you'd like to help please click here, or text REDCROSS to 90999 to give $10 to American Red Cross Disaster Relief.  Every little bit helps.