Sandy had a deep emotional effect on me like the one where nothing, not even retail therapy does the trick. I couldn’t have ventured to go shopping anyways with my eyes bulging out of their sockets and my hair with multiple layers of frizz like I just got electrocuted. I looked so unkempt; you would find the Castaway star Tom Hanks better groomed. His ordeal gave him a lean body; mine gave me a rounder one. I guess I wanted to retain all the body heat so I ate and sat . . . and  . . . waited!

I waited while my neighbors all conjured up their ‘genies.’ Yes, those that make the loud noise but don’t materialize out of thin air and ask, “What may I do for you master?” but the ones that guzzles gasoline and power a few light bulbs in the house. I however was in favor of roughing it out for the first week in the freezing house. I wanted my kids to know how to live without turning on the T.V. and other gadgets but just on day two my kids caught me on Face book using precious phone battery. Couldn’t help it! I had to be connected to the world.

From taking it in stride to striding to the gas station with a can in hand on those even number days when my odd number car was ostracized from the gas station, I lost my adventurous spirit.  Soon I felt like attaching myself to an electric pole to light it up but realized my chilled bones would probably turn the wires into icicles.

Sandy State of Mind was killing me. Matching clothes, blow drying, a nice warm house, electric blankets, waking up with warmth, my hallucinations knew no bounds.

I wished the school would call to tell me that they would gladly take my kids in school and that I should relax, go to a spa, get a hot foot massage but then I would jolt back to the dark and cold house.

And then it happened! Half of our street got electricity. They displayed their power unashamedly and that evening I decided I couldn’t stand their glimmer. So I went to sleep the night at a friend’s place. The warmth of the friend’s house extended my stay to four nights.

When power was finally restored to my house, I gingerly turned on the light switch lest it crumbled like a cookie and I were without it again.