Hurricane Sandy Pt. 2

So, when I woke up on Tuesday morning it turned out that we still didn't have power and that the Hurricane had been a pretty big deal. A huge deal. This came much to my surprise (and a little bit to my chagrin). As Tuesday progressed, my family would start to feel very glad that my mom had the foresight to cook all that food, as the refrigerator started to smell. On Wednesday, things escalated to a point that could not be ignored and we threw pretty much all our remaining refrigerated food away. Disgusting.

To be honest, I was going to write a light-hearted post to follow my previous one -- something about how downtown Manhattan, which was among the communities who probably needed information the most, couldn't get any. About how my family would sit altogether in the kitchen, avidly listening to our emergency wind-up radio (which, when my mom bought it a few years ago, I swore up and down that we would never ever use) trying to get any news available. When would the power be restored? When would transportation be up and running? How long would the city be trapped, held at a complete stand-still like this?

During the day, we would go out into the world (along with a remarkable number of other people). We were largely seeking information, but there was none to be found anywhere in written form. Almost every single business in my neighborhood was closed. The few convenience store/bodegas that WERE open were open in the dark. I walked into one, seeking a newspaper, and it was like walking into a cold, dark cave.

A lot of the information we could get was spread by word of mouth. People started asking each other on the street, strangers who had never met but who had an experience in common, what had they heard? Could it really be four days before we got our power back, before we are able to connect with the outside world? And how long for the subway? I personally started to wonder how much better I would know my neighbors if I didn't usually have technology to answer these questions for me.

At night, when the sun went down, we would light approximately seven candles just to see each other across the dinner table. 7pm felt like 9 or 10pm. When we finished eating, we would sit around for another hour or so, wondering what else to do, before giving up in our boredom and trotting up to bed.... at 8:30pm.

But truthfully, I don't want to sound like I'm complaining. Really. Some parts of the city were thoroughly destroyed, and some people -- even in our own neighborhood -- were actually in danger. As I write this, on November 3, people still need help, desperately. We got our power back at 4:30am this past night, but there are thousands of others who STILL cannot say the same. And it it is very cold, getting colder. And the food that was once in their refrigerator is spoiled. And they have no running water so they can't so much as flush a toilet.

Or it is worse: their house burned down or was swept out to sea. All their possessions are lost and destroyed by fire or flooding. A loved one of theirs was killed. Their lives are irrevocably changed.

These are the real problems that surround me. And it is hard to make light of something that affects other people in such serious and horrifying ways. And I want to make light of all this, because to make light of it is to belittle it, and thus makes it an easier pill to swallow. At least, it does for me. But in this case... I can't. Not now.

When compared to what some people are currently going through, my hurricane experience was... downright pleasant. My neighborhood was dry, albeit dark. My house sustained no flooding (I think I mentioned in my last post that the water was still at least two blocks away from us). The worst for us was that we had to wash our dishes BY HAND. And read by candlelight. To be completely honest, our lack of power felt more like an adventure, to me, than a horrible inconvenience -- it was an adventure in the dark.

So that is it for now. For me, the Days of Darkness are at an end, and my life will return to normalcy. For others, that will never be the case -- even when they finally do have electricity. Because of that, it would be wrong for me, at this time, to say that I would ever miss the Days of Darkness, and the intimacy they inspired. Not even the teensiest, tiniest bit.

Though, truth be told, I will miss them. But just the teensiest, tiniest bit.