Sandy...

So, yeah, we got hit by a hurricane the other day.

Not a very common occurrence around here, so people didn't really know how to respond.  Most people seemed to either over-react or under-react.  With little experience to draw from, it was hard to determine the appropriate response.

We bought a few supplies, and then just hunkered down and watched movies for the day.

In the end, we got through it just fine.  It was loud and scary at times, but all it managed to do was rattle our windows.  No flooding, no damage, and we never lost power.  About 100,000 other people in our county weren't as lucky as us.  All of our friends and family seem to have come through it just as unscathed as we did though (favorite lilac bushes notwithstanding), so all-in-all we feel really lucky and grateful.

The only negative consequence I suffered was a minor emotional one.  There's this farm I pass by on my way South out of town that I've always really liked for one particular reason.  In the middle of this large farm field by the side of the highway, about three hundred yards away from the road, there is this one large, lone hill sticking up from the ground.  And on the very top of that hill, silhouetted against the sky, stood a large, twisted tree.  I've always loved that image for some reason.  I would be sure to look at it for as long as possible every time I drove by, and I always appreciated it in some way I can't really define.  It was iconic to me, somehow.  I really loved it, and I looked forward to seeing it.  When I drove to work yesterday, after the storm, I looked for it again, but it was gone.

Just a little thing, really.  But now that it's gone, I can't help but feel sad.  Again, I can't really say why.  I'm just sad knowing that I'll never get to see it again.  Never again get to feel that strange feeling it gave me every time I looked at it.  I miss it.

But as far as hurricane damage goes, that is getting off lucky.  And how.