I sat down to start writing about Erika's end-of-the-year show at her new preschool that she's been enrolled at since April and realized I never even mentioned the new school. Like, ever. Did you know that Erika attends "old school" (the preschool closed due to the storm but since reopened) two days a week, and attends a new private school the ( Read more... )

As most of you know, Hurricane Sandy that arrived on Oct 28, 2013 hit us particularly hard. The high school that I teach at was flooded, and we were closed for two weeks while we tried to assess the storm damage. The high school was relocated 20+ miles inland to a K-8 parochial school that was shut down in 2009 due to low enrollment. Three schools ( Read more... )

Sometimes I forget how young Erika truly is, how sensitive she is to the world, how scary and unknown it must seem ( Read more... )

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The storm hit New Jersey on Monday night, October 29, 2012. We stayed indoors. In the aftermath, I took a few photos.  It took some time for me to heal and to process the emotions, before I felt ready to look at them. Given it's been two-and-a-half weeks, it's a Facebook-lifetime away and I didn't think I should post there and rehash everything. So ( Read more... )

Erika is out of her Singulair allergy chewable tablets. I sent for a refill last Friday and they told me to pick up Monday; of course the storm was here by Monday, so now she's been without it for a week. I'm considering going to the local pharmacy and pleading-- (1) they already filled it at her pharmacy, (2) they can't call the pharmacy to ( Read more... )

First and foremost: We (meaning my immediate family, my mother-in-law, my sister and her boyfriend) are alive and safe. We were spared any damage to our bodies, our homes, and our cars ( Read more... )