It’s Personal 11/4/12: Sandy’s Aftermath, Let There Be Light!

Shortly after my last post, Lower Manhattan lost power. We had no electricity, heat or running water for 5 days. As of Friday evening, we got our electric back but still have no heat and only ice-cold water. As I write this post, I am wearing 2 sweaters, a wool scarf and a hat as temperatures dip into the upper 30’s.

While it has certainly been an unpleasant and unfortunate situation for me and my family in the LES, many people have lost everything; Their homes, their businesses and even their lives. Sandy has really managed to put life into perspective for me personally and I’m sure countless others. It’s hard to think about writing my next post when there are people out there without enough food to eat or a roof over their heads. People who no longer have family photos of their loved ones or records of their existence because they were swept out to sea. When something of this magnitude strikes, it makes everything else pale in comparison. It makes what seemed so important to you last week appear to be beyond trivial. 

I have to say, being in darkness for all of those days made me realize just how dependent we all are on electricity. It’s a little frightening when you really think about it. Funny that while its only been around for 130 years and yet just about everything we rely on in our day-to-day existence is run on electricity. Makes me wonder what we did during the other thousands of years we have roamed the Earth!

Besides 9/11, in all of my 30 years on this planet and in the great city of New York, never have I seen it knocked down so hard to its knees. Honestly, it was hard to watch. I can’t tell you how weird it felt to see every single business closed or no lights at all from the Lower East Side up to 34th street. It was eerie, ominous and just plain depressing. But we are New Yorkers, we are survivors. We can and will overcome this or anything else that comes our way, no matter how bad the damage, no matter how deep the hurt. It was a great feeling to see neighbors looking out for one another and coming together to help others in a time of such crises.

While things are slowly getting back to normal, let us not forget those who still are in need. If you would like to donate to the Red Cross, click here. If you’d like to drop off donations of food/clothing/toiletries as well volunteer your time to the help relief effort click here for a list of locations in NYC. 

My heart goes out to everyone who is still struggling on the East coast and I hope that we can emerge from this stronger and more resilient than ever. 

XOXO

S

Ps. I am donating 10 percent of the profits from merchandise sold in my Etsy shop to the Red Cross for the month of November!

Click here to shop.