October 29th, 2012 will be ever embedded into my psyche…that is the day Hurricane Sandy arrived with  lots of glitz and very little  glamour.

It was about 6 pm, Monday evening, when Sandy took out our power.  I really believed that the lights would be back on no later than the morning after.  I underestimated Sandy’s power.   It took 3 days to get power back, to my chagrin.  But I am not complaining, seems power is still out for some of my co-workers, not to mention my sister.

Mother nature handed us a real smack in the face.  WHACK!  

I tell you this event is a real wake up call for me.  OK, Sandy was not the most destructive hurricane on record, but she sure was the most destructive one for us New Yorkers.

So, what do you do when you have no electricity?  The first thing we did was try to make sure we did not lose any frozen food.  I tell you I now realize what is the most important kitchen appliance I own…the refrigerator.  Go Fridge!

Next day my husband went out to get ice…by the grace of God we found some in the next town, yes the town that was lucky enough not to lose power.  I think I am moving there.

We then got out the coolers and packed it up with all the perishables.  What was not able to hold up, as far as meats, became dinner.  I cooked, cooked, cooked and cooked some more.  I just could not stand the thought of having to throw good food away, well the food  would not have been good if I had to throw them away

You will be surprised how handy old items become when left without electricity.
Another item that is antiquated, and very handy without power, is a battery operated radio.  We needed to know what was going on out there.  Funny, information that was always easily available now was being received by a battery operated radio…even cell phones did not work.

Ovens don’t work  either  without power, even if it is a gas oven…top of the oven was usable,  but bottom oven,not so much.  

I say thank God for our 3 BBQ’s.  Don’t tell my husband I said that…see I kept always yelling,”Why do we need all these BBQ’s.” Now I know why.  

The next day, just around the block, I see my neighbor’s front tree leaning  on  her home.  By some a twist of faith the tree managed not to make a grand entrance.  

Now around the corner, another blessing,  this tree was blown directly away from the house.  I would like to think that the tree made a conscience decision to bend away from the house and toward the street…If the wind had blown the other way this house was sure to have been treestructed… It was once such a beautiful tree.  

All in all the neighborhood  survived this Sandy.   For in spite of power outages, we did manage to keep a roof over our heads , and not lose any lives.  Wish I could say that Sandy did not take any lives, but she did…Mother Nature is not stoppable, and shows no mercy…

If we learned anything from this horrid experience we should have learned one important thing…that without electricity we are totally left in the dark…and without light we are lost…so now as I turn on the lights I try to remember how frustrating it was when  flipping on a switch produced no light, and not to take electricity for granted…   

I think I have now learned to truly appreciate Mr. Thomas Edison.

mb