Randoms on Sandy

Where to start....

Well I'm about ready to buy my Jersey Strong T-shirt, that's for sure. We're supposed to have weather that's sunny and in the 60's the next few days, like nothing ever happened. Meanwhile we're all forever impacted by the nightmare of Sandy. It's all kind of surreal on one hand and all too real on the other. I'm up in Bergen so when I look at pictures of the decimated shore, the roller coaster in the water, and the spots where homes used to be, for now, I can just pretend it's a bad dream.

As I see the photos it's like my life flashing before my eyes- high school prom weekends in Seaside and Wildwood, day & weekend trips with boyfriends, my now husband, and my son. "Dancing, smiling and shakin' that ass" at D'Jais in Belmar, late nights at Headline in Neptune, morning wrap-up at 114, 15th St in Belmar with my college girls Julie, Jess, Yundi, Marissa, Allison and whomever else came down to hang out. My crazy weirdo date at some mansion in Deal, showing E the Phillips St beach club in Deal and getting him a burger at the Windmill. Days and nights growing my relationship with B on the boat at the marina in Sea Bright. Stalking John Bon Jovi's house by the Navesink, hoping to sometime catch a glimpse of him. Nights at Jenk's seeing The Nerds or having a Rider reunion night, "CAB'S HERE" going from Belmar to Headliner or Belmar to Jenks. Staying in Loveladies with my out-of-state friends, showing them the "Jersey Shore house" and the boardwalks we call home. I could go on and on and everytime I think about it I want to cry.

Here, while we aren't under water, trees were and are still down like dominos. There is a house up my street that looks like they must have been trapped in there, with no power, for like eleven days, because a giant tree is across their driveway, blocking their cars in, tangled in every power line they had in their corner. It looks insane. I was dropping my kid off at his school, I went to go home and I literally got lost in my own town because of detours from down trees. I actually started panicking because I could not find my way out. My neighbors were out of power for at least nine days. It's been a total shitshow up in the Rock. And Ridgewood, HoHoKus, etc.

Of course people have it worse. In life, someone's always going to have it worse. As long as there are starving children in other countries, people are going to have it worse. But I think we can feel bad for everyone. If it's happening to you, whether it's "big" or "small", it's still happening and it still sucks. So let's remember that next time you want to say to someone, "At least.." Well, "at least you're not submerged in shit while someone's pissing on your head" is how it comes out. Just simply say, "I'm sorry. I can only imagine how hard that is...". Let's stop trying to quantify people's pain and suffering. Because if you want to ration out your sympathy based on your definition of important, you better not ever have anything to complain about yourself. Be kind to your neighbors, friends, strangers, etc. This was a traumatizing event. If complaining makes someone feel better, so be it.

Some of our customers and friends are still without power. It's day 12. It's so scary and disheartening. You feel forgotten. That's how we felt after Irene and the freak snow storm last October when we lost power for 6-7 days. During Irene it was just us and five homes across the street so no one seemed to care. But I had a two year old and it definitely lost it's "adventure" appeal quickly. My heart goes out to anyone that still has no power. We have power, heat and wifi in our store, Shades of Soho. So if you're in the Glen Rock area and you still need to power up and have no where to go, our door is open- 175 Rock Rd, next to Gianella's and Greek Taverna. www.shadesofsoho.com

I want to thank the Carr's (Liz, Joe, Syd and Jordan) specifically for always being ready to help us out- whether it's having a gaggle of tween girls to watch E or offering us a place to stay when our power went out, it's nice to know we have family in Glen Rock.

We got to know some of E's friends' parents a little better and got to hang out with ones we already know, being able to host them for playdates while they had no power at home. So shout out to E's "brothers", Jason & Sam. Good to have you Katz's and Nissenbaums.

Thanks to Borough of Glen Rock Facebook page and the Ridgewood-Glen Rock Patch for keeping us as informed as possible, hour by hour on outages, trees down, work being done, etc. It was really a community effort that was a great comfort as I was sitting in my car trying to power up two phones when our house went dark during the snow.

I've been trying to post as many relief efforts as I can- including our own- https://www.facebook.com/events/407571502629253/#!/notes/bryan-kule/new-jersey-small-business-hurricane-sandy-no-retreat-no-surrender/10151524410632977 There are just so many! But if you have something you'd like me to post, just email me at tsdk74@yahoo.com- something you're doing personally, something for your business, whatever- however you want it worded to the public, and I will post it.

So we're all trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. It's like a hose with 100 leaks. Patch one, another pops up. Devastation in all it's forms is all around us. But like everyone's been saying, we're resilient, Jersey people. Same with NY. We'll make it through, with everyone's help. Just keep being kind, patient, and paying it forward and we'll all be okay.