Answer: No.
Friends and family from places other than NY or NJ regularly ask me this question (they know I live in the area most affected by Hurricane Sandy that hit over 2 months ago). Its a normal question and asked with total sincerity, but often asked in the same way you would ask someone in an elevator "How are you?" knowing they will probably answer "Fine, and you?" An automated response is expected to what many think is such an automatic question, since it has been so long since the Hurricane hit.
No doubt everyone has seen the horrific pictures of the areas affected--The Jersey Shore, Staten Island--but even so, the question is usually asked by someone that has never experienced anything like we experienced with Sandy. They have never watched 8' of water rise into their house in 90 minutes; never had a car float down the street or a deck detach and disappear into the Bay; never had their house slide off the foundation by waters they swam in the day before; and, never watched their elderly neighbor, who lived on the water for 40 years, lose every possession she had by the normally serene and clean water that surrounded her home. They cannot comprehend, as I could not before Sandy hit, what exactly would be involved in the cleanup of a disaster like this.
Everyone has seen this picture a hundred times, including me, but until I saw it with my own eyes it didn't seem real.
So back to the question. My answer is usually a bit softer than just "no". I respond with a myriad of things, such as--- "Well, not really, but its getting better.", or "Not totally back to normal yet, but there is progress". Both of these responses are accurate, but not complete; however, to expand on the shocking reality of what Sandy did is difficult to put into words.
In my area the cleanup is mainly done. A few homes damaged badly will be torn down and rebuilt. Our home looks great, actually--our damage was minor in the scheme of things. Our neighborhood no longer has entire household possessions littered throughout front yards and people are trickling back to their everyday lives of checking the mail and running to the grocery store. We, our area, are the lucky ones---we live on water, but not on the Ocean.
Today we took a drive to the beach for the first time since Sandy. What I saw today was similar to what my own neighborhood looked like 2 days after the storm-- but even worse. At the Shore, households are still scattered over large sections of sand, moldy furniture and drywall is stacked in hurried piles near the curb and mansions that once stood steps from the sand -- or modest houses with a slight view of the ocean a few streets back-- are buried in sink holes or are just gone, not even foundations--just sand.
Some houses right on the ocean still stand... but others, in the top picture where the wood is visible or in the bottom pic where sand is on the roadway, are gone.
The houses still somehow standing are filled with sand and on one street I saw two homes shoved together and through a crevice between the two, a boat, at least 30', is visible in one of the homes. INSIDE the house.
The house on the right has the boat inside the house. It isn't visible in this picture.
I don't mind fielding questions about our return to normalcy down here and I appreciate the concern and support. I will talk to anyone about the struggle and the triumphs the Shore has had in our rebuilding-- but know that always on the minds of the survivors is the fear that the beloved beaches and boardwalks, no longer standing, will not be ready in time for summer, or worse---the fear that a "Sandy" will come again.
I feel very lucky to have what I have and I feel very sorry--even a bit guilty--for those that have lost everything. I haven't written about Sandy before now because I couldn't find the words and as I read through this I see I still am not capturing exactly what I feel and what I see-- not just the physical damage, but what I see on people's faces.
;)
Sunday, May 5, 2013 at 8:53PM 
