I have just finished reading the Sound of Water by Valerie Davies.

I enjoyed it very much and learned a lot!  It is full of literary references and historical anecdotes along with beautifully written images of life in a small New Zealand village.

The reason I mention this is, of course, Sandy.  Water.  It seems apropos.

It has rained for three days.  Wind and water.

Leading up to this major historical event, I stopped by the store thinking I should probably get some batteries for my flashlight, just in case.  By some miracle, I happened upon the last packet of “D” batteries in the store.  I later saw a news report on batteries, “D” batteries were nowhere to be found.  I had been lucky.

I wandered around the store and picked up a few more items, just in case.  Of course wine was a top priority but, on my way, I stopped by the bread aisle.  Interestingly enough, all the white bread was sold out.  Only whole wheat and “healthy” bread remained.  Made me laugh.  There was plenty of “my” bread left so I bought a loaf, just in case.

My son hauled the cooler out of the closet, just in case.  I made extra ice, just in case.

I charged up my iPhone backup battery, and filled up my Brita water jugs.  Just in case.

We hunkered down.

Schools, closed.  Federal Government, closed.  Public transportation, closed.  My office, closed (although expected to work from home – ahh, modern technology!).

We watched Obama return to the White House.  He was right there in the middle of it all.  We watched the weather channel, and CNN.  And just to break it up a bit, we watched and old Bond movie with Sean Connery.

The wind started up after dark and remained fierce for several hours.  We have some downed trees in the area and we are soggy.

But we never lost power.  We were lucky.   Our elected officials did what they were supposed to do, our public employees did what they were supposed to do, mostly people listened, and we were lucky.

And in-between news reports, Valerie Davies got me through.