Published: October 12, 2007 06:19 pm            

CRIST: October 2006 storm did have its benefits

The earth was quiet, save for the sound of tree branches cracking and falling to the ground. Standing on our back patio, we imagined it to be what the residents of a war-stricken country might hear in the middle of the night, akin to the sound of gunfire in the not so distant vicinity. We put on our winter coats and boots - packed away from the previous year, as it was still fall - and walked the neighborhood. The devastation was overwhelming. It looked like a bomb had gone off, and occasionally, the silence was broken by the sound of yet another tree succumbing to the weight of the heavy, wet snow. That was a year ago this weekend. Hard to conceive, after the beautiful weather we have been experiencing.

We lost our electricity early the first morning of the infamous October storm. After several exhausting trips up and down the basement stairs to empty our quickly filling sump, my handy, helpful brother-in-law came by with a generator to hook up to the sump pump and empty it. My son and husband spent the day clearing tree branches from ours and our neighbor’s yard. They, in turn, repaid us with a tin of my favorite cookies (hint, hint). Our children’s friends stopped by to visit, and neighbors were perusing the streets and engaging in pleasant conversation with folks they otherwise had never spoken to. And, as the darkness of the evening began to settle, we started a fire (in the fireplace), lit some candles and gathered in the only warm room of the house to play board games. It was a welcome end to an overly hectic day. When the electricity finally came back on, I was surprisingly disappointed, as our quiet family evening was rudely interrupted with the blare of bright light and television noise.

We were a bit luckier than those around us. Our electricity was out for roughly eight hours, and our property sustained little damage, except for a few tree branches. Our good friends from around the block were without electricity for almost a week. We invited them to stay at our house on Saturday and proceeded to spend a truly enjoyable evening preparing an impromptu meal and passing time with each other. As our world was put on hold, we had nothing to neither limit our time with nor threaten to steal our attention away from the moments at hand. So went the entire weekend with my family. With nowhere to go and only free time on our hands, we spent more time together in that one weekend than on any other weekend during the entire year preceding. I believe we were not alone. A lot of families made the most of their time together then, and I am also certain that you could find evidence of neighbors helping neighbors everywhere. I envision it to have been similar to life before excessive obligations and overly scheduled lives took the place of quality family time and the human tendency to care about each other. Unfortunately, for the trees, Mother Nature had to cover our neck of the woods with her thick, fluffy blanket to open our eyes to the joy of togetherness and selfless acts of kindness.

Linda Crist is a member of the Greater Niagara Newspapers advertising department and a Grand Island resident.

        

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