hurricane sandy thoughts and thanks

Friends, are you all alright? I caught the last flight from San Fran to NYC on Sunday night and was in my East Village apartment when Sandy hit on Monday. We lost power, cell service, and hot water from Monday until this evening. Despite living in a pitch-dark neighborhood, taking "sink showers", and eating at restaurants uptown for every meal, Sandy was merely an inconvenience to me while others lost their homes, livelihoods,  or worse. I feel extremely fortunate, and my heart goes out to all those affected.

On the other hand, I'm so proud of those who have volunteered and stepped up to serve!! I shared a taxi with a regular guy from my neighborhood who was paying to go uptown and donate blood to Red Cross. The wonderful efforts people have made to help others are truly heroic -- no task is too small.

I'm also in awe of my own roommate Abby's experience on Monday night. A night nurse at NYU Langone Medical Center,  Abby and her fellow NICU nurses spent more than 10 hours transporting 20+ premature babies to other hospitals when NYU lost power and the generators failed. They went up and down 9 flights of stairs holding extremely fragile babies in the dark -- apparently one special care baby needed more than 6 nurses just to hold all of its pumps! (You can see Abby's co-worker Margot featured in the Anderson Cooper, here!) Also amazing: ambulances from all over the country (even as far as California & Texas) drove for days to get to New York during this emergency crisis.

So just want to say a HUGE thank you to the many friends who have texted me to check in, to Andrea for letting me sleep over last night, for Abby for hanging out with me 24/7 during our no-power days post-evacuation, and to all the people who made a difference during this stressful time. Please also feel free to check out these links to learn more about donating and volunteering (here and here) to aid Hurricane Sandy relief. Stay warm and safe!

(Top photo via excisions; bottom photos via HuffPo)