At the end of my first visit to Puerto Rico ever, I was followed out by Hurricane Hugo.  That was the scariest plane ride I had had until my Las Vegas return trip recently when we had to land in a different city.  Hurricane Hugo, was a rare but powerful Cape Verde-type hurricane which was a Category 3 as it came over Puerto Rico. I managed to take the last flight out as I was on my way to beginning my year-long Barcelona adventure.  I remembered looking back at the gate agent as I boarded totally afraid of what was waiting for me onboard and abroad.

Since then I have lived in various places that have seen hurricanes land. One of the most fun hurricanes for me was Hurricane Fran that landed in North Carolina as I lived in Washington, DC. Actually, what hit the DC area was more like a Tropical Depression. Nonetheless, it was fun because DC can’t handle any type of whether so there was massive chaos in the subway and highway system. It was also fun because my boss at the time was actually named Fran and the hurricane couldn’t be more appropriately named.  It was also fun, because it was over soon after and we proceeded to hold a dinner party where I got to show off my culinary skills-I made an Indian feast that was mighty tasty.

Then this past summer I was left stranded in Curacao by Hurricane Isaac. To use the phrase “stranded” is rather harsh considering that Curacao was not hit by the storm and remained beautiful , vibrant and sunny and I got to enjoy many a cocktail.  Last year, I was in New York when Hurricane Irene hit the northeast.  We had been warned repeatedly that it would be bad. People were evacuated from Battery Park and other low-lying New York City areas.   But, seriously it wasn’t that bad.

So, here we are present day New York.  Two hours away from Hurricane Sandy’s landfall.  The timeline has just been moved up by the meteorologists and the talking heads.  Is the earlier timeline a bad thing? The wind gusts are pretty bad for my trees. They are definitely dancing.  And trees are down on my local train station’s tracks. But we may just get out of this ok again. The big irony for me is that I was supposed to fly yesterday to Puerto Rico for work.  I cannot imagine leaving the island of Manhattan towards the island of Puerto Rico with hurricane winds behind me.  I feel so relieved to not have gone to Puerto Rico.

The thing about New York, it doesn’t get tornadoes usually. It doesn’t get hit by hurricanes usually. No forest fires. Usually no earthquakes.  We don’t tend to get buried in 30 feet of snow, usually. But lately, things have been changing.  In the past year, I have now experienced two hurricanes, tornado and an earthquake.  Wow. Mother Nature must be pissed with us.  If I were a crazed politician I might just say that Mother Nature is smiting us for Wall Street’s greed.  If that were the case, I would have to let mother nature know “hey! I work for a non-profit, please pass over my house.”  The lack of mother nature’s wrath in the new York area could possibly explain why they left a crane up on a building that has now partially collapsed in mid-town Manhattan, dangling precariously over the edge of the highrise.  Who wouldn’t think of taking down a crane before the arrival of a big storm labeled “Frankenstorm.”

So, Hurricane Sandy is coming.  God Speed! Be Safe my fellow New Yorkers!

And Let’s see how quickly we can get back to normal. But what is normal these days?  What’s next New York? Locusts?