Doing our best in the worst of times...reflections on this week's events
Historic is the buzzword of the week in describing the mass exodus of folks from the south to points north with the goal of escaping the pending mayhem named Irene. We of the Northeast are a hardy lot. Accused often of being loud, mouthy, rude, aggressive, and in-your-face. We have been the butt of all jokes Jersey and beyond. And your point is???
Call us anything but late to the party...we can pull it together when shake comes to splash.
Bake, Shake, and Soak
The week started typically enough with references to a tropical storm, growing into a hurricane and possibly threatening the east coast. Yep, been there, heard that. Summer was still very much in the present here.
By midweek our world was rocked literally for some seconds.
One does not put earthquake and New Jersey in the same sentence. We are relatively fortunate compared to our southern and western counterparts when it comes to natural disasters.
Got our Emergency Plan-check, know the status of the clients-check, got the team in place-check. We accounted for everyone. Once we were certain that all clients and aides were in good stead, we stepped down from high alert status. Home health agencies are no strangers to challenging conditions. It is part of our function to have emergency procedures in place in the event of disaster. Curiosity and bemusement were the overwhelming response to the afternoon disruption. We were to learn that Fate was about to play her next hand...
During a time in the season when shore waters were warmest and visitors at a high, we noticed northbound traffic was on the rise with boats, trailers, and campers in tow. The initial projections and rumors had become a reality named Irene. There was no longer any doubt to the certainty of her destination and the strength of her destructive resolve. Our emergency procedures were back to high alert and plans executed for clients and personnel.
Exit Stage North our Heros and Heroines
My office is in a lovely little town on a main roadway leading to the shore.
Most of the citizens are seniors with a friendly atmosphere and high sense of community. By this time, evacuation orders started flooding the news.
People boarded homes, packed up, and were on the roads at unprecedented volumes. Huge lines at gas stations and crowded stores
in preparation for the storm turned the laid back community into a beehive of activity. Seniors slow? Think again.
Despite the grim predictions, cooperation and calm prevailed. Many of the neighbors formed their own support trees and banded together to ride out the storm. The media, municipalities, county and state offices of emergency management are doing a superb job of keeping citizens informed and overseeing evacuations. Some folks even decided to have hurricane parties featuring...what else? The Hurricane Cocktail!
Waiting for the Beast
Saturday morning brings a dark, eerily humid stillness. Not a hint of a breeze anywhere. Our little town is no stranger to power outages during storms. The yards are cleared of anything that may be blown away and containers filled with water. My normally taciturn husband has undertaken homestead disaster preparation with a military precision.
I learned that history is not the sole property of those exiting from the south.
There will never be enough libraries built to house the individual stories of those who chose to step up and keep it all together not only for themselves but for their families, friends, and neighbors.
In my town, we all hope this will blow out to sea and give each other the 'thumbs up'. NJ's signal for 'Game On!' You were expecting something else? Fuggedaboudit!
We can only hunker down, stay safe, dry and do the best we can till this nasty lady makes her exit.
