It’s no surprise that I woke up with a significant hangover, after the night before, but that didn’t stop me from grabbing my son, packing up my favorite belongings, and hightailing it out of New Jersey.
After a fist-full of Tylenol, and some Dexeter Coffee, my son and I loaded up the car with our luggage and raced to the nearest gas station. I guess we shouldn’t have been shocked to find out they didn’t have any fuel. And neither did any of the other five gas stations we tried. But since we didn’t have any access to any news we had NO CLUE how bad things really were.
And so, we came back home.
Totally defeated.
Luckily, my father took one look at our faces and handed us the keys to his car.
Booyah.
I’m not gunna lie. The drive to Pennsylvania was absolutely terrifying. Not only because I was scared at any moment one of the fallen trees stuck in a broken power line would suddenly come crashing down on us, or worse a telephone pole, or even worse a traffic light, and not only because the roads were covered in huge trees, broken branches, wet leaves, and live electrical wires, but mostly because all of the other drivers looked just as terrified.
Now…
You’re just going to have to use your imagination here because we were too nervous to take an actual photo of what I’m about to tell you – but yes, I drove to my brother’s house in my bathrobe, mostly because I don’t own a winter coat, and also because it wouldn’t fit inside my over stuffed suitcase.
But if we had taken that picture, this would have been the caption:
I don’t always drive in my bathrobe, officer. But when I do it’s because I’m a hurricane victim.
And after an hour in the car, we made it safely to my brother Adam’s house.
And well… you already know how that worked out.
I couldn’t write next to this hot mess, that silly cat, Louis, refused to play any of us, and after three nights and four days, just when I was at my wits end, it was time for us to leave.
My brother’s girlfriend, Leah, has her own family, who were also in desperate need of heat and electricity. And since my son and I could easily join my parents who were staying with my Uncle Rick, we packed our bags and hit the road.
The drive back to New Jersey was much less horrifying. And on the way to Uncle Ricks, my mother asked if we could stop back at our house first, to pick up a few things. Plus, my son really needed more clothes. And underwear. And his computer.
Upon arriving home, it was so sad to see my whole neighborhood blacked out and practically empty. But I was beyond thrilled to see things were in relatively good shape, all things considered.
I gathered the items my mother asked for and my son refreshed his overnight bag. We were moving as fast as we could, when I heard the doorbell ring.
It was our neighbor, Ira. He informed us that a relative of his had spoken to the police and it might be another 7 – 21 days until the power would be restored.
My heart sank. And a lump formed in my throat. I immediately thought about all of the people that didn’t have a safe haven, to escape from the damage and destruction, like I did. And I almost started to cry.
Before we got back onto the highway, and before we headed to Uncle Ricks house, my son politely asked if he could, “please stop by his girlfriends house, if only for like five minutes, pretty, pretty, please?”
And of course, I said, “yes.”
I let them have a some time together, while I updated my Facebook status from my iPhone. I still had spotty cell reception and I wanted to make sure my mother knew we would be there soon.
After we left his girlfriends house, we turned down our own street and saw something flickering, and glowing, in the distance.
“THE HELL?” I yelled.
“Are those lights?” My son and I both wondered.
Within a matter of seconds my cell phone rang.
And it was only the best phone call ever.
Good ole’ Ira – called to tell us to turn the car around and come home.
OUR POWER HAD BEEN RESTORED!
And then, this happened.
PS: Please stay tuned for the final conclusion of Hurricane Sandy.
PPS: I am at a whopping word count of 14,121 for NaNoWriMo!
You have clearly earned yourself an “I Survived Hurricane Sandy!” T-shirt. You can handle anything.
I’ve read all these posts and I must admit that you make it all sound like great fun, even thought it most definitely wasn’t!
Thanks, Jimmy.
I think you’re right!
🙂
I REALLY REALLY REALLY tried my BEST to find the funny.
And I really really really worked hard at maintaining my sense of humor.
And drinking LOTS of Vodka helped.
Some of us are very good at finding the funny in bad situations. It’s what keeps us from going under 🙂
OMG, I was on the edge of my seat reading Part Three, Meleah!
” I was scared at any moment one of the fallen trees stuck in a broken power line would suddenly come crashing down on us, or worse a telephone pole, or even worse a traffic light, and not only because the roads were covered in huge trees, broken branches, wet leaves, and live electrical wires, but mostly because all of the other drivers looked just as terrified.”
YIKES!
And I loved the ending….
“Good ole’ Ira – called to tell us to turn the car around and come home.
OUR POWER HAD BEEN RESTORED!”
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay!
As I shared before in one of my previous comments, I think you handled this whole experience brilliantly because you discovered the humor!
Three cheers, girl!
X
Exactly.
Thank you SOFA KING MUCH, Ron!
And I REALLY cannot thank you enough for taking the time to read and comment on all of these posts!
You’re such a wonderful friend. TRULY.
XOXOX
Glad the power came back on before you had to make another trip. I have to ask, why don’t you have a winter coat?
Because I spend all of my money on my son and my medications. I can’t afford one. And I don’t really leave the house enough to justify paying for one.
Thanks for keeping up with my Hurricane Saga, Marty.
You rock!
It is a pleasure and honor, girl!
I LOVE reading your posts. TRULY!
X
That comment just MADE MY WHOLE DAY!
XOXO
🙂
X
I’m not going to lie. My heart did a little happy fluttery thing when you said you were driving and saw the lights flicker on. While I’ve never done a hurricane, I’ve done about everything else and know there’s NO BETTER FEELING than that flicker of light when it’s been out for so long! Yay!
And also, if you got pulled over wearing a bathrobe, I’m pretty sure you could find a way (wink, wink) to get out of a ticket, hypothetically speaking 😉
Best. Miniseries. Ever.
Like Abby, my heart did a happy fluttery thing too! So happy you got the call from Ira!
Couldn’t you, like maybe, recreate the scene of you driving in your bathrobe? Inquiring minds would love to see it. 🙂
Seriously, though… I’m so happy you’re home and safe and with electricity! Hopefully you’ve been able to stock up on some food and gas as well!
I would love to have seen you driving around in your bathrobe and so nice of you to swing by the girlfriends house, I mean now that is a sweet mom 🙂 You guys did get your power back relatively quick but wow, what you guys have been through and all the people in New Jersey so sad.
Aw! Thank you!
Hmmm…. Maybe I will recreate that photo for you!
HA!!!
NJ is still a hot mess. But thankfully we are on the road to recovery.
I just can’t even imagine all that you’ve been through. I’m so glad you had safe places to go and so glad that you have friends like Ira to help you through it all. What a tremendous relief it must have been to know that your power was back and you could go back home again.
HOME SWEET HOME!!
ha! in your bathrobe. hold on i have to shoot you an email, we need to fix this. of course, nothing is broken but well brb
Okay!
YAY for your word count. YIPPEEEEE!!!
🙂
Great saga. I can just picture you cruising the darkened streets in your bathrobe in search of some WiFi.
For serious.