Sandy's Spiritual Blessings

As an individual whose life experiences continuously transcend the limits of learning, expanding to the ultimate level of useful life applications, I have grown to see the value of my innate sense of spirituality. Now approaching my mid-forties and looking back on my adolescence,  I have always been able to foster my drive to connect with all kinds of people—or for lack of a better explanation, I really couldn’t stop myself if I tried.  I truly enjoy being mindful of the unique gifts of all living creatures, in the world we oftentimes struggle to share, making  compassion and empathy a driving force in my daily living .

Like many people my age, growing up on Long Island, I have memories of the 1973 and 1978 ice storms, and I’m sure many children will be talking about Hurricane Sandy well into adulthood.  As one of those who escaped Sandy without any major damages, I would like to count myself blessed with only exterior home damages and local displacement during the several days without power. For me, the beauty of it is the gift I have actively chosen to accept it as, being brought to the brink of just anticipating residential devastation.  An immense tree from our neighbor’s yard was tossed onto our house like a bunch of lumber, clipping the roof over the second floor, to violently settle onto the flat roof over our family room.  I have seen the value of this as a homeowner’s version of a near homeless experience, and have decided to claim this as my sign to continue to actively appreciate my life; along with any opportunity for renewed focus. 

After we finally regained power, and were faced with the task of cleaning out the remains of the refrigerator and freezer, my initial grumpy reaction to a task I was not the most efficient at performing, actually transitioned into a personal proclamation to restock our home with all the nutritiously creative menu items I had always hoped to bring to my family. In addition, I decided to clean out the pantry, and the end result is that I finally have a handle on what we have to eat in this house—and our grocery shopping is much more efficient.

This has really turned out to have a domino effect for quality family time with joint meal preparation, as my younger daughter is very interested in having a hand in our healthier dinner menu.  How can I even try to comprehend the devastation for families who have actually lost their homes?  Knowing that I will never truly grasp the finality of their plight, I must maintain my dedication to claiming this newfound appreciation for the home I have always tried not to take for granted.

As the holiday season is in full swing, I am truly awed by how close we came to losing the opportunity to prepare for Thanksgiving in the traditional fashion I have grown to love—because whatever side of the family we share Thanksgiving with, I am always the one to make the stuffing for their gathering. This year, the kids were actually off from school the day before Thanksgiving, and I spent most of the day in the kitchen with my two daughters, preparing stuffing for “an army”. For my husband and me and our daughters, Chanukah is one of our home-based holiday celebrations we share with both sides of the extended family. We have been hosting Chanukah for several years now, and as the holiday draws near, I am reminded that not only could we have lost out on our annual holiday celebration, we could have easily been faced with the reality that others here on Long Island’s south shore have not a “home for the holidays” spirit at all.