After the Fall

I live in New York City.

We are still standing, here in our little corner of Queens. We had high winds, and a few old trees in our neighborhood came down, a few cars were damaged.

We are lucky.
My parents, who live on Long Island, haven't had power since Monday, and have been told that it could be a week before it comes back.

They are lucky.

And so we wait, for the city we love to dry out, build up and get back to normal again.

For us, the storm was an exciting day - the kids were fascinated by the wind and the prospect of a tree falling down. There is a new tree that was recently planted in the garden outside our window, and the kids kept tabs on it all day. We had a great playdate with our upstairs neighbors, S and Claire are in the same class at school, and her older brother, A, played so nicely with Ben, who is less than half his age. It's a new and novel thing for me to go to a playdate and get to sit in another room and talk to the other parent there.

So, there we are - Ben is back to school already, and Claire returns on Monday.