[irene] In The City!

It seems like Hurricane Irene spared next to no one along the East coast this past weekend. As I mentioned last week, I traveled to Indiana for my sister’s baby shower and much like every other time I visit this state, my return travel plans definitely had to change.

When I left last Tuesday, NYC was rocked by an earthquake and I received news of the shaking once I landed in Chicago O’Hare. Ruben called me and said that his hospital shook pretty severely and he was convinced that it was a bomb, but all was well. I joked that when I leave him his world shatters – little did I know that his weekend would be eventful too.

Since I arrived in Indiana last Tuesday, I’ve had the luxury of spending such amazing time with my beautifully pregnant and glowing sister. Our mom arrived on Thursday morning and we went non-stop until she left on Sunday. With the baby shower on Saturday, we stayed busy with last minute preparations and lots of pampering with pedicures and haircuts. Given the “go, go, go,” it was difficult to monitor all that was going on with the storm.

Our building did a good job at keeping us informed of what was required for each of the residents. They encouraged us to tape our windows, fill our bathtubs and seek lower ground. At midnight on Saturday, they shut down the elevators and residents had to use the staircases if they choose to venture out of their units. It was interesting to see it unfold via email and made me more nervous since I was so far away from Ruben.

Unfortunately, Ruben couldn’t just ride out the storm in our unit – he was on call on Sunday and had to go to the hospital on Saturday night to make sure he was there for his shift on Sunday. At first I was so sad that I could not be there with him for the storm, but was happy once I realized that I would have been by myself at home.

As we now know, the storm didn’t hit New York as badly as was anticipated, but it has made returning to NY a headache. I was originally scheduled to come back on Tuesday, but Continental suggested that I take advantage of the travel advisory since traveling on Monday and Tuesday would be ‘crazy’ at best; therefore, I will be back on Thursday.

I can’t wait to share the pictures from Michele’s baby shower and the rest of my time here in Indiana. Until then!