The day after tomorrow!

The spirit of New York City! 

Frankenstorm Sandy visited us east coastners last week.... She was a perfect storm that hit the perfect city..causing mass destruction not just in the city but to our neighboring states as well...A category 1 hurricane but a category 3 storm gave us all a reality check, humbled us down, reminding us that we, the humans, might not be as invincible as we think we are; that there is definitely a much higher power over us but most importantly to never mess with a woman, her wrath can definitely destroy you!! =) 

The last couple of days have certainly been difficult..it was not just another storm or a hurricane... this was different never seen in the last 108 years storm. Half of the New York City, everything south of 40th street and especially the lower Manhattan was flooded. The entire subway system was under water.... What was heart breaking was the fact that "the city of lights" was not lit up for straight two days (I've never seen that happening so it was quite shocking for me!)... We were all forced to either take shelter under refuge camps or to stay indoors and stay cautious, some of us were lucky enough to have power for the most part while others had to do without it! 

The last two days were not only stressful but disheartening too! No car-honking and trying to overtake each other.. no cab pulling in the middle of the road or the herd of people trying to make it from one place to the other. NYC is made of fast-walkers-while-talking-on-the-phone-with-a-disrespect-for-traffic-rules kind of people (and we take Pride in being all of those things and this is what makes us NYorkers!) so it should not come as a surprise that I was particularly depressed! But today.....today brought a relief to my fears. Today is not just Halloween but also happens to be the day when businesses resumed and offices open back again...so what if the MTA still hasn't resumed to its full service or if subways are still under water...some of the MTA buses were running and nothing could bring joy and a smile to my lips like seeing those yellow cabs running the way they usually do - never stopping for anyone and driving like they just might kill you if you come in their way!! 

So while the city was recovering and trying to bring itself back to normalcy..I decided I should too, enough with being a lazy bum and eating chips while blaming the hurricane for it... after work I changed into my running gear, plugged my earphones in and decided to go out for a run and what I saw outside was completely breath-taking and awe-spiring (awesome + inspiring!!). Not only did I see those cute little kids dressed up in their costumes but their parents / siblings had joined in them too! I couldn't resist a smile when I saw a really cute 3 year old dressed as a tiger who ran by me and wished me happy Halloween . I smiled back and wished him back and saw his mother dressed, so I wished her and asked her if she usually dresses up with her kids every year and the response she gave me was not what I was expecting. She politely smiled and said that she usually doesn't but this year she decided to, not just to celebrate Halloween but to celebrate life... 

We, living-breathing-conspicuous souls, are creatures of habit. We love our routines and we like to live our lives by certainty. When something like Sandy happens it might shake us to the core but we always stand up, rise back up from the ashes and grow again...we rebuild what we lost and create new from what was destroyed. But most importantly we learn to smile back again. Just a small sight of cars running at full speed and people walking on the sideways was reassuring enough for me to believe that things will go back to normal very soon and that everything will be alright! 

Happy Halloween New York City!!