Hi all! So I write this post with a heavy heart tonight. As all of you are probably aware, Hurricane Sandy hit the tri-state area earlier this week. My home town, and towns that I spent the majority of my life in, were seriously affected. Sea Bright, a mere 10 minute drive from my house, is pretty much wiped off the map. Monmouth Beach is where I spent every waking moment of my life throughout high school. Little Monmouth beach club is where I spent every single minute of my summer and it’s pretty much demolished. All that’s left of homes in Sea Bright are piles of sand and mud. A friend of mine is missing her 18 foot trampoline. MISSING. They literally can’t find it anywhere in town. My husband and I lost both of our cars and to be honest, consider ourselves LUCKY that that’s all we lost. It truly breaks my heart to walk around town and see all the damage that Hurricane Sandy left behind. Families in the area are just starting to get their power back tonight for the most part. It’s very surreal to me… I keep saying I feel like I’ll wake up and realize this was all just a horrible nightmare but it’s not. You never expect anything like this to happen where you live, right? Anyway – I put together some pictures that I took, my parents took, and my aunt took of all the destruction around Oceanport, Monmouth Beach, and Sea Bright. Take a peek if you’re curious. Although I’m sure you’ve all had about as much as you can take on the news… if you’re able to watch the news :\ – Hope to be back with the usual posts next week after we get our life back in order. We finally got power tonight so we’ll be in the house cleaning all weekend.
For anyone in the Monmouth County area that is looking to help out: FEMA and the Red Cross are setting up camp at Monmouth Park and they are looking for volunteers. Also, a ton of families lost pretty much everything the own so we are looking for clothes donations. There are drop off stations all over the place but you can contact the Red Cross to see where you can bring stuff. Any little bit helps. Char is only 4 & 1/2 months old but I brought over every single thing she has grown out of already. Like I said, any little bit helps.
Stay safe everyone. My love to all of you.
Jersey Strong. <3