Exhaling Gratitude: Notes on Hurricane Sandy's Visit

Exhaling pure gratitude here after 16 hours without power and praying for the recovery so many of my neighbors with huge-rooted trees blown over by that incredible howling wind last night.  

Uprooted trees have fallen on a car, leaned against a house, and torn up a sidewalk (from the roots) and I can't see much past my immediate neighbors.

If this is any indicant of what South Brunswick and the rest of Central Jersey looks like then all the Hurricane Sandy media concerns were accurate. 

I have lots of limbs/branches down in the back yard and two pines blown over from the roots up. Hopefully they will re-root if I can find some muscle-people to help me prop them up and stake them. I have no idea of how the roof shingles held out but all of the siding seems to be still in place. 

I am so glad that the guesstimate from PSEG for potentially 7-10 days without power seems to be a non-issue now (though I was talking to a neighbor and apparently the power has gone out again in another area of the township).

I'm sure as line repairs get made, the power may go out again. But honestly, the tear-laden relief that (perhaps) the blackout is over has me exhausted.

My compassion for the emotional agony that people by the NJ Shore are experiencing at their devastation is overflowing. It is truly a traumatic experience even when potential harm is narrowly avoided.  

Just color me very aware of how fragile our lives/circumstances are and the necessity of being kind to one another.  

At least this is how it feels here on a rainy/windy October 30 morning in storm-torn Central NJ in the wake of Hurricane Sandy's unwelcome visit.  Copyright 2012 Judy Shepps Battle