Hurricane Sandy, its aftermath, rebuilding a new life

This was the sight of the marina right next to our home.

This is my first post since hurricane Sandy hit and devastated my home.  It has been a very difficult month for my wife and I.  We went from living a peaceful idyllic life in our cozy one bedroom condo to being displaced, without a home.  Yes it has been painful, but at the same time we have been moved by the kindness of family, friends, and strangers.   It has been a spiritual test also both of us with our faiths vacillating between unswerving belief and heart wrenching doubt.  We know that God is taking care of us and that in the future things will get better.  But in the short term, in the here and now it is difficult to make our ways out of the forest of devastation.

This is the debris pile 2 days after Sandy hit.  Today it is triple the size.

Despite the devastation to our lives my wife and I are grateful.  Most importantly grateful because we are alive and that we have each other.  Grateful because we have had shelter.  Grateful because we have friends and family that have taken care of us.  Grateful to the kindness of strangers such as the Red Cross volunteers offering us free meals.  Grateful to our parish for offering us gift cards, grateful for friends getting together to pay for our storage space, grateful for all the calls, offers of help, and prayers.  We have seen the hand of God present throughout this tragedy and from what we have seen we know that we will emerge stronger.  

This is the view from our home 2 days after.

Sometimes it takes a natural disaster to bring out the best in people.  For that we are grateful and hopeful.