Post-Sandy Gratitude

By: Cynthia Litman

Pearl of the Week: Nature's Law

NASA Image of Sandy

This time of year gratitude is the buzz word yet post-Sandy it's become a lifestyle to heed C.S. Lewis's pearl "miracles, do not, in fact, break the laws of nature."

Impending Storm
When news warned that Sandy was coming under a Scorpio full moon, the emails from the Office of Emergency Management streamed in and the post-traumatic stress of Irene returned.

Preparing for a hurricane requires a certain amount of discernment and a hell of a lot of faith. It's easy to drop $500 for hurricane better-safe-then-sorry shopping, however, Murphy's law proves that the one thing you forget is the one thing you'll need.

I sensed my family would be okay, but knew what was coming was not Sandra Dee.

Survival mode polarizes your world. Do you stay or evacuate to higher ground? I braced myself, our home, took in outdoor items, Halloween decorations and prepare to bunker down.  

There was little to do except collectively pray for mercy and in that mode I sent out a protective shield of white light as far and wide as I could.  

Sandy Relief Information & Inspiration Motto

What in your home do you actually need? You mentally sweep through your house and its contents trying to sort what is valuable and what you'd need to grab if you had to evacuate and what you'd learn to live without. From your jewelry, medicine, papers to your goldfish your valuables are prioritized.

Storm Shelter

My friends flooded basement

Outside as the wind is howling, the only true shelter to seek is inward. There are other forces at work. You pray your roof is strong and the canopy of trees surrounding your home will hold their stance through the winds and shield you from the brunt of the gusts. 

Mother Nature's arms are wide indeed. She seems awfully judgmental.  How does she determine who to hit or spare? Does she care if I’m a really nice person or is it at random or is she carrying out the intent of the angels or is she at the command of the grim reaper?

As a parent you want to assure your children they are always safe by your side. No matter if you are sleeping in the basement or escaping the flooding walls of your home. There's no telling in this life of what will be tomorrow but so long as your family is together you're good.

The flickering lights signal darkness ahead. Try as you might to distract your children or persuade them into one belief or another, they are experiencing the reality of the moment. You pray your innate survival instincts aren't dulled by the modern world.

Holding my children I closed my eyes as images of my extended family flashed through my mind. When morning comes the world may look drastically different.

Aftermath

Our waterfront town was thankfully spared the worst. Others bared the brunt. Power was out, phone lines and internet service down, battery radio was on and flashlights at the ready. 

I wanted a roll call of my loved ones and curious what went down in the rest of the world. News trickled in. It was really bad out there. The election was no longer the topic of discussion nor as important as who had a generator.

As you emerge from your bunker you begin seeing the devastation and hearing the losses endured by  friends, friends of friends and those whose lives will be recalled in pre-Sandy context. 

Trunk or Treat!

We didn't leave our home until Halloween day. The streets you drive daily required careful navigation around the debris and teams of fix it people. Unsafe to walk house to house, our town organized an impromptu Trunk-or-Treating excursion in a school parking lot.  Seeing our friends in the community was such a welcome relief. 

We may have been stinky from not having accessible hot showers but seeing everyone was a shower of hope. For the local businesses that had the foresight to secure generators and stock up on supplies in order to keep our town fed and provided for, our sincerest thanks. Some worked their butts off until 2am to feed the demand of their frazzled and displaced customers.

Small Miracles

The little things in life were massive luxuries, like hot water. Things we usually pay little mind to, like light, become sought after commodities. 

Our modern world went retro to olden times. Time blurs as you watch how many hours of day light you have to complete your chores - hand washing dishes and laundry, boiling water on the stove, clearing the pathways and strategically placing flashlights and candles around the house to prepare for nightfall. 

The kids had chores and with no television or electronic devices to occupy them they were on their own to entertain themselves while ma and pa worked. We tried to explain modern conveniences, like running water, and how back in the day our son would have been the Water Runner charged with the task of fetching water from the well while our daughter would have been on butter churning duty.

Going back to basics means everything has a functional purpose. For example, an ornamental fireplace is not as valuable as a working fireplace that will actually heat your home. I'd kill for Dora the Explorers magical backpack.

We scanned the fridge for what was in danger of spoiling first, tossed out bags of food and had Top Chef like challenges to see what we could make on the BBQ and what we could heat up in the fireplace. 


MicroClimate
The night was cold. I couldn't get warm no matter how many layers, blankets and cats I laid on my chest. As I laid shivering, I kept wondering, how in the world did my grandparents survive Siberia when they escaped Poland during WWII? 

Our indoor worlds are so separate from nature. Whatever the climate is outside, indoors we artificially set it to the opposite. In the summer, we blast the AC. In the winter, the heat. We are not adept to living in our natural climate and my body could not adjust to being in the cold when it was cold.

My birthday plans to go into NYC were co-opted by a search to find a warm place to stay for the night. My friend Allison, didn't have power but had heat, hot water and a gas stove top and we spent the night cozied up on their pull out couch. It was simply the best birthday present ever. 

Downed Trees

Tree People

Oh the trees, the majestic autumn beauties now uprooted and torn. Age old pillars that withstand so much on our behalf got the short end of the stick with us nestled right under their branches. 

Many homes, cars and wires were spared others were in their paths.
  

Our already vulnerable state was compounded with Athena. Trees already bruised from Sandy, limbs now heavy with snow. Families made homeless now more vulnerable. Athena's water melted washing the spilled gasoline and debris back into the bays and oceans which are already in a fragile state. 
 

Out of the Woods?
Were we out of the woods yet? 

With fear spreading about a gas crisis, possible water contamination, nerves about the power coming back on when you weren't home and sparking a fire and Athena, a Nor'Easter coming our way, apparently not. 

With the main circuit breaker to our home off we moved into my parents home who got power back to ride out the rest of the blackout.  Grids came online followed by the roar of the sirens from the fire engines being called into action.

Energy Audit

Time to Panic!

With the gas crisis and inability to regularly charge your phones and devices, you were on a self-imposed energy audit. Driving became very strategic, no frivolous trips, no funny LOL just because texts.

Finding gas was a half day event. With barren stations at every corner and hundreds of people waiting in line at open stations to fill their cars or gas cans to fuel their generators creating new dangers. People walking around (spilling) and storing an ultra-flammable material.  Got matches for your candles?

So even if you needed to seriously escape from danger you wouldn't get far. With supplies and supermarket shelves empty awaiting truck deliveries of fresh goods you became all to aware of our interdependent society.

Patience as a Commodity 
Hearing power was restored on Main Street was very healing and lit me up.

The blackout and health department forced restaurants to dump their inventory. With limited fresh supplies they graciously offered the "you get what you get" menu. The lines were impossibly long but crazy exciting. Ordinarily, imperfect dishes are returned, extraordinarily, we were grateful to be in a warm place with a hot meal. 

Having hot tea in hand was miraculous. Watching the pizzas fire up in the oven brought tears to my eyes despite my recent gluten ban. My son was ecstatic as pizza became his daily bread. We feasted like Kings compared to the standard issue army rations being distributed in affected areas under Martial Law.

Being displaced certainly pushes one foot off the edge. Seeing army trucks roll through our streets does little to settle your nerves. While candle light is extremely relaxing, I felt like a snapping turtle. With my kids, it was like why didn't my kids automatically adjust to the new un-entitled but grateful reality???

Overflow

Sandy sped everything up and brought so many vital issues to the surface.

Supply Drop Off Location

How do we mobilize supplies to get them in the hands of those in need? Will the red tape be cut? How do we clean up and how do we effectively rebuild? Why are there flood zones if flooding was not a foreseeable event? How long should it take to get communities back online? Are utilities outmoded?  

Should homes and communities be more self sufficient? Why aren't power lines buried? Can we safeguard our environment from the environment? Are Solar cars on the market? Can the landfills handle all the excess debris?  Are the waters safe? How do we educate our children and help them process all of this?

What's the economic impact? Contractors will be flooded with repair requests and home improvement stores will see a surge but what about businesses that had to shut down for the better part of two weeks or whose location and territories were in the affected areas?

Vulnerability

The extent of Sandy's reach all through the East Coast is humbling.  The lights went out on Broadway. Trains, planes and automobiles were closed, cancelled and cut off from NYC.

New York, thought impenetrable but yet keeps getting smacked. Like planes, it's hard to view the wind and water as weapons of mass destruction. 

Modern NYC living is far beyond third world standards. Expectations are high yet we forget that NYC is an island, as is Long Island and Staten Island and the Barrier Islands. Will man made barriers prevent future flooding (from the financial district) or just redirect the waters elsewhere (more expendable areas)?

Your home is supposed to be a safe haven. You fill it with all your possessions, hopes, dreams, traditions and memories and the truth is it can all be washed away in an instant by a perfect storm. I've learned that the storm can come in many forms.  This time, it was the wind and the sea. This time, Ground Zero was your home and community.

The sea which I'm thankful to lay my eyes upon daily and try never to take for granted while admiring its beauty and watching my children frolic in commands utmost respect for its restraint. 

Goodwill

World events and calamities force everyone to step up. Once my family was okay, I felt so helpless and kept hearing Aung San Suu Kyi's pearl "when feeling helpless help someone." What could I do? What can I donate? How? Where? 

School Supply Drive in Oceanside

Part of me wants to give everything I own away. I had my children with me so the thought of going into the disaster areas felt reckless. Now that I was back online I couldn't tear myself away from watching and sharing the "sandy" updates on a new Facebook page Sandy Relief Information & Inspiration (please click to see the images, videos and amazing community service). Many of my friends were driving right through affected areas directly helping families in need, cleaning up homes and giving out supplies. One gave the coat off her back to a mother who lost her home in Staten Island. Do I really want to take that in first hand? Second hand photos are powerful as is.

World events invite others to step up and take heart inspired action. Will the goodwill withstand the wait until homes and communities are repaired but need a kick start to normalcy? 

Gratitude
I still don't feel fully re-assimilated with "normal" life but feel immense gratitude for the option.  

Sending the kids back to school now with a form of identification, extra snacks and mini flashlights in their backpacks. We are reviewing emergency phone numbers and I'm into doing survival drills and skills with them.

With so many of us now awake and conscious of the level of destruction Mother Nature dolls out, it just baffles me to turn on the news a week later to middle east warfare. Its unimaginable that anyone would voluntarily cause mass destruction, like ever.  

We have enough to brave under nature's law. Every breath she grants is a gift. Inhale life, exhale gratitude.

Copyright © 2012 Cynthia Litman d/b/a Tigris Imprints. All Rights Reserved.

Related Mommas Pearls Post: Powerless Power (written post Irene)
Related Audio Content: Word From Our Momma Audio on Gabrielle Bernstein's website www.Herfuture.com
 

Resources: (some of many!)

Occupy Sandy NYC

Sandy Relief Information & Inspiration - Created to help disseminate news, supply requests, volunteer opportunities and give us some inspiration through the process. Its an open page for community. 
Waves for Water 
Little Care Boxes - sending in care packages to affected areas