The Calm After the Storm

 

After three days of taking cold showers because there was no hot water and not being able to get my computer or phone to power on, I decided my 22 year-old son Heath and I needed to find some better accommodations. The dark, cold hallways that were half abandoned as residents left for a more “powered” place would not work for us another day.

So at 3am, I just couldn’t get myself to sleep and I started to call hotel chains in NYC. I got the same answer—“Sorry, we are all filled up for the remainder of the week.” I forgot that the Marathon was scheduled for Sunday. Consequently, there were no rooms to be found. 

Heath suggested his girlfriend’s place in West New York. That was right across the Hudson River and her apartment building had power. So we found our way across the river and set up shop. It is amazing—all you need is a computer and phone and you can work anywhere.  

Here I sit writing from a lovely, warm apartment—we even went to a Halloween gathering last night in the building. But frankly, the hot shower and comfy bed was what I cared about.  

This morning Heath and I took a brief walk to a functioning deli and got our morning coffee and muffins. As we sat on a park bench and looked at the beautiful view of NYC in front of us, I asked him what he had learned from this whole experience. His answer rang true for me. He said, “People who were affected by the blackout like us had no distractions to run to like computers and phones. We had to sit with and face ourselves.”  For Heath, it was a peaceful time.  

He got me thinking—how easy it is to get caught up in the every day minutia that we don’t take time to just BE.  

Love this saying: “I am enough, I do enough, I have enough.” This is really the truth. And it took a storm to remember that.