Sometimes you're just lucky

Anyone who is alive has heard about Sandy, the "Superstorm" that devastated most of the East Coast this past week.

We've been lucky here in New England.  We don't get massive weather systems....or at least not lately.  I do remember vividly the "Blizzard of '78"  (they used to be much less create with storm names back then).    I was in high school, and I totally remember getting a free week out of school.  I also remember piles and piles and piles of snow everywhere.  I remember cars being stranded on highways, and people having to take refuge wherever they could.

Thanks to technology that allows us to know days in advance of pending bad weather, the storms that have hit this area have been anticipated and prepared for.   Yes, they still cause damage.  But more in the form of downed trees and loss of electricity.   We don't usually see millions of homes damaged and massive loss of life.

Not so this time.  This time, the storm was so big and so massive, no amount of preparation could make us ready to face Sandy's wrath.   And it hit areas that are just not used to preparing for such destruction.  New York City.  Long Island.  New Jersey shore.   To name a few.

And the lucky part for me?   I live just outside the area that was hardest hit.  Yes, most people in the area lost power.  Yes, school was out for three days. We heard the wind howling, saw trees fall, watched un-anchored things go flying around.   But we were lucky enough, and far enough from the coast, to escape major damage. 

And for that we are thankful.  And BTW - I'm also thankful for the electric lineman who have spent hours upon hours trying to get power back to people's homes.   My brother Steve is one of those.  After 7 days of work, he wracked up 127 hours of OT.  That's 18 hours working, 6 hours sleeping, in every 24 hour period.  God Bless him and all his colleagues.