3 days after the brunt of the storm has passed has brought about a lot of uncertain conditions. As I mentioned before, our house thankfully withstood Sandy, however, we are still without power and have been given time lines that could extend the return of it over a week from now. Colin and Kailey's day cares are both closed indefinitely and both Colin's and my school districts will remain closed until at least November 12th. Most of the schools in the area are operating as shelters for those that have lost everything and many remain without power themselves. Fueling up cars and generators has been a challenge with a lot of gas stations shut down and most having lines with a minimum wait of 30 minutes (upwards of 2-3 hours). Chris and I traveled to NY state from my parents home (my hometown of Vernon sits on the border of NY state) to fill up on gas and still waited an hour.
We have spent two nights at a friends through Sandy, one night in our own home and since that was very cold for the kids, left for my parents and have been here one night so far (with plans to stay at least another night). While I am grateful for the safety of my family and home and the small blessings that I see pop up, it has been very challenging on the children. It's funny because we often feel and find that children are very resilient through these types of situations, however, the lack of structure and routine has been evident in their behaviors and actions. Unfortunately, Kailey has been fighting a cold for days which has left her exceptionally whiny and cranky and they both seem to find anything they can get their hands on which will cause trouble. Their moments of getting along are few and far between and my stress level has only grown with time. There is only so much we can do to pass the time.
I fight back tears as I write this because I feel horrible venting about the problems we face since they seem so minimal compared to so many around me. It is an extremely stressful situation that I know we will get through, but doesn't make it any easier while we are in it. Our options are pretty limited at the moment. I am willing to try anything, but even things like crafts and coloring last 2 minutes and then they are done. Since tensions are thin, I crave normalcy and I know we are a ways away from that at the moment.
2 comments:
my husband and i moved to alabama on the day of the tornadoes. we had to move from an apartment without power, into a house without power with very little gas and hardly any food. i was 5 months pregnant and rachel was 19 months old and we have no family here. talk about stressful. i know where you are. we had a house when MANY around us were wiped out and we had our health but it still was very hard. you can do this. things will slowly start to turn. gas stations and grocery stores will light up, food and gas will come back and life will get easier. then, like a miracle, the power in your house will come on and your kids will go back to school. we are 18 months past those tornadoes and it's amazing. you would never know it hit so hard. keep your chin up!
Hang in there. It sounds like you're doing a good job thinking of ideas for the kids and trying different things. I have a hard time (even without a natural disaster) being in someone else's house for more than a day or so with my kids. The lack of routine is just rough. Is there any way to divide and conquer? Maybe the boys (dad and Colin) could do something together while the girls do something else. Paint fingernails. Toenails. Bubble baths? Hopefully you'll be able to go home soon.
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