One year ago today, we were different.
It was PS — Pre Sandy.
I wonder if that’s how it is for most of us who were unlucky enough to be directly in Sandy’s path, when she barreled into our homes, communities and lives…. and left a path of destruction — physical and emotional — in her wake.
Life is now separated into two distinct time periods… before Sandy… and after.
Who would have imagined it? Most of us didn’t believe (PS) that a confluence of natural and seemingly supernatural events could actually come together HERE, anywhere or anytime in our lifetime. But the perfect storm came, and went, and left its indelible mark on so many of us.
In the days and weeks after the Sandy disaster, people showed their resilience, their strength and their kindness. It was more than just a slogan — We WERE stronger than Sandy. And, over the past year, those who endured the biggest storm of our lifetime have been putting the pieces of their existence back together.
It’s not exactly back to normal. Some families haven’t made it home just yet and many communities, families, and businesses still struggle to recover.
But on the anniversary of Sandy, it was a perfect fall day — perfectly blue skies and bright and sunny.
Oh, what a difference a year makes.
On the night of the one year anniversary of the storm, a sea of people gathered together in Long Beach– in support and in strength to commemorate the day that changed so much. That sea of people was a force much stronger than anything mother nature could come up with.
They lit lanterns, and walked together to the ocean to make their peace with the water. When the event was over, residents took “candles” home to place these beacons of light in the windows of their homes.
Tonight in Long Beach, the lights are on, banishing the darkness of Sandy mostly where it belongs. Behind us.
