Surviving Sandy



Photo credit: CBS Boston



We made it!

We were lucky to have minimal damage from Hurricane Sandy. We're both safe and sound and our particular neighborhood had very little damage. Mainly some small and medium size tree limbs down, and a little street flooding where the storm drains were blocked by leaves.



I'll be honest about how scared and worried I was during the all day storm. Listening to the sound the wind gusts were making scared me shitless. There are some huge oak trees on our street and we were convinced some of those would come down, but luckily we were spared that.



The other worry was that we would lose electrical power. As of this morning, over 275,000 people in Massachusetts are without power. Somehow we were spared that.

It was dangerous to go out in the storm because of flying debris, including signs and tree limbs, so we hunkered down and just hoped for the best.

Anybody who knows me is aware that I freak out during bad storms. I think I might have had some kind of anxiety or panic attack at the beginning because the weather reporters were starting to get hysterical and I worried a few might start hyperventilating and then faint while they were on camera. That would have pushed me over the edge.

Matty wouldn't let me watch any reports after that, so he would check on the forecast and then explain things in a calm matter.

The other thing that helped me was something I wasn't going to write about on the blog... mainly because it's a little embarrassing, but I'm trying to get over stuff like that, so here goes:

When I was a little kid I had a teddy bear I use to sleep with that always watched out for me when I was asleep. His name is Growly Bear and I use to imagine he would get all growly when I felt anybody or anything was trying to threaten me while I was asleep. During the day when I was awake Growly Bear also watched over me, even though nobody knew he was my protector. I always felt safe inside when he was close to me.

So Growly Bear was on duty all day yesterday and every time I would look at him my anxiety would go down a notch or two. Between Matty taking charge of everything and my Growly Bear, I managed to get through the day without a major breakdown.

Later during the evening hours when the winds started slowing down a little, we went outside to assess matters and also to check on the neighbors. There's an elderly couple a few doors down and they were glad to see us. We got invited in for some cake and coffee and heard all kinds of stories about storms they had been through in the past. It was interesting to me that hearing those stories was actually calming. Probably because it helped me put things into perspective, I guess.

Anyway, we're back at school and work today. I am so ready for everything to get back to normal.

Matty and I keep thinking about all the people who died in this storm and those who are still struggling with all the damage. Out thoughts go out to everyone.