#JerseyStrong: Healing Takes Time

Eventually, there will be healing, but the scars will remain. The broken will be torn down, rebuilt, replaced. When the new rises, we will notice it's not the same as it was before. Never will be.

Casino Pier. Seaside Heights, NJ

Last Thanksgiving, while tossing around the football with my brother-in-law and nephews, I hurt my right index finger. The game of catch turned into a game of knockout. As in, whoever doesn't catch the ball is out. So we were whizzing that pigskin at each other pretty fiercely, or skying it like a punt, in an effort to make our opponents miss. Did I mention my brother-in-law is a former professional pitcher who made it as far as Triple-A in the Braves organization?

Ouch. Thanksgiving 2011.

Figuring it was just jammed, I never went to a doctor. By the time I realized I had probably broken my finger, it was too late for medical intervention. It took weeks for the pain to go away; months for me to gain full function and bend that finger again. A year later, it's fine, but you can tell it was broken:

This is now. That's as straight as the one on the right gets.

I don't know how long it will take to fix what Sandy broke on the Jersey Shore. What I do know is that, like my busted finger, it will be fully functional some day. But it will never be the same. One day we'll walk that boardwalk again. We'll ride those rides while remembering when Sandy washed everything away. We'll take pictures and remember the good times as well.

My Director and Baby Peanut.
Casino Pier. Summer 2009.

We'll remember the heartache and the tears, the homelessness and helplessness. We'll remember a community, a state, rising up together to make it right. We'll laugh again, but the scars will remain.

Baby Peanut and her prize.
Summer 2009.

For more memories of the Casino Pier, check out this post from right after Sandy hit. And this post from last week.

To donate to Sandy relief, click here.