Sandy, Sandy, Go Away



I'm sitting here in my family room, the lowest point in our house, waiting for Sandy to make landfall. We've done everything we can - we've moved ourselves to the lowest level for the next 24 hours, we've baked Ella's birthday cake and some banana bread, I've checked the crawl space multiple times for water seepage (so far, so good, knock on wood), we have ice, toilet paper, milk and beer - so really, there is nothing else we can do!

I'm trying not to peer out the back windows at the gargantuan trees that line our backyard, extremely tall and extremely scary oak trees that sway every which way when the wind blows. I'm trying not to think of how much they'll sway at the peak of the storm, which is supposed to occur between 8 p.m. and 3 a.m. tonight. Of course it will be pitch dark and I won't be able to see what the trees are doing if I look out the window. All I can do is curl up with my kids, hope to fall asleep and pray for morning to come.

I find comfort in the fact that most of my neighbors appear to be home and are in the same predicament, stuck in 50 year old homes with no deep basements and monster trees hanging over their houses. I'm amazed that we still have power (again, knock on wood) and that I'm even able to write this post. Tomorrow is Ella's 8th birthday - so of course nothing will happen, right? A girl should be able to look forward to her birthday without having to worry about a stupid hurricane.

The kids have been great. No cabin fever, no prolonged bickering, just lots of relaxing and enjoying a day off from school. They think it's fun to camp in the family room, although Jack has already decided how we should arrange the air mattresses so that a tree won't hit us. He's the practical one.

It's a little after 6 p.m. and Sandy should be making landfall right about now, predicted to come ashore at the southern tip of New Jersey, which happens to be where we spend our summer vacations. I'm hoping she gets through here quickly and with minimal damage.

Hang in there fellow East Coasters - and see you tomorrow.