Some memories are so potent that no matter how much time passes, that one is instantly taken back to that time.
This weekend is the start of the anniversary of Hurricane Sandy.
It was not the first time that this part of the country was impacted by a hurricane. Irene came through the year before. She was a dress rehearsal compared to Sandy.
Before she landed on the Mid-Atlantic and North East coast of the US, no one could have imagined the damage that she eventually left in her wake. Those of us in this part of the country are used to seeing images of this kind of destruction down south. It was a shock (to say the least) to see the physical state of the region once Sandy dissipated.
Back then, I was working in midtown and living close to where I am now. Naturally, the office was closed. While I was home, I was flipping between the news and Lost reruns, trying to keep my mind off what was happening outside.
All in all, I got really lucky. The apartment I was living in at the time was facing the street. Had things gone another way, the tree in front of my building could have fallen into my bedroom. Thankfully, I didn’t.
I didn’t have to leave my building. I had electricity and internet the entire time. The only issue was getting to and from work once the storm, once the office reopened. The trains were not running and most of lower Manhattan was completely dark. There were busses, but they were crowded and it was a slow go. I remember taking a taxi home one of those nights. It was akin to a roller coaster ride that I will never get on again.
Ten years later, the communities hit by Sandy have mostly recovered. In some places, it is as if the storm never existed at all.
While the physical scars (metaphorically speaking) have hopefully healed, the memories will last a lifetime.
Writergurlny 