The Effects of Frankenstorm
We are very fortunate and have little to report regarding the impact of Frankenstorm. We never lost power. The two limbs which came down in our backyard didn’t damage anything. Our basement remained dry. Our kids only missed one day of school. As we view the footage of the rest of the east coast we are continually reminded how lucky we are. We are still learning about the many others more greatly affected by this storm – our hearts go out to them.
I had thought that I would be spending today inside, hunkered down entertaining my kids (or should I say playing referee), as the storm raged around us, wondering just how long our dog would be able to “hold it”. Or perhaps I would be spending the day bailing out the basement, carting off debris from our yard, or at the very least searching the neighborhood for the trash cans which hadn’t fit under the back porch. As it turns out, the day is free. At least until the kids get home from school.
What does a person do with a free day originally set aside for FEMA magnitude clean up? Tackle the debris under the bed, of course! Believe me, had I owned a hazmat suit, I would have been wearing it! As it is, I am not sure whether I sucked more gunk into the vacuum or my lungs.
I pulled out two pairs of cross country skis (okay, I knew they were there), two brown leather shoes (both lefties), one blue sneaker, and a slipper. Eight and a half tennis balls, two rawhides and a variety of stuffed animals. I extracted magazines and bookmarks. Scraps of paper with names and phone numbers jotted on them written in my own handwriting but belonging to people I don’t even recognize. I recovered boarding passes for flights taken back when airlines offered food onboard and transported baggage for free. I found a gift card for a now defunct bookstore and my husband’s expired driver’s license from before our daughter was born.
Then there were the items so covered in dust and disgust that I tossed them without identifying them first. Or the ones which I felt zoop through the vacuum tube with a clatter and were gone.
I didn’t truly complete the job. I was unable to move the bed by myself. I did, however, return the carpet to its near original blue and cart off numerous things to that trashcan the storm kindly left intact. Will any of this make a difference when I am lying in bed tonight? I can’t say for sure, but I am fairly certain the answer is yes. Not only will the air I am breathing be cleaner, the remote visible should it slip off the headboard, and the weight of a task so undesirable it never even made it on to a ToDo list be removed from my psyche, I will no longer fear that the environment under the bed could truly support monsters living there.