The Long Road Back #JerseyStrong

It may be difficult to imagine summer with the frigid temperatures most of us here in the USA have been experiencing lately. Still, Memorial Day weekend is four months away. A blink of an eye. That weekend, the unofficial start of summer, carries added significance this year after what Sandy did to the Jersey Shore in October.

Many of the businesses owners, politicians, and residents vow to be ready for Memorial Day. The Friday of that weekend is 117 days from today. 117. So it's actually LESS than four months. I've shared many stories of the impact and recovery from Sandy, because I grew up on  the Jersey Shore. This area means a lot to me and my family, some of whom still live there. It's been a while since I posted an update because from afar, the progress I see is minimal at best. To me that makes the ultimate goal of Memorial Day a bit ambitious.

Recently, workers removed the last of the rides on the Casino Pier in Seaside Heights: The Mardi Gras House of Mirrors. Last summer, Peanut and I made our way through that House of Mirrors for the first time together. Despite my repeated instructions, she refused to hold her arms out in front of her and bumped her face at least four times:

I try to remain optimistic about the Pier. After all, the motivation to return is financial. While that's important and symbolic, just down the road from that Pier, the video below was taken. You'd think from the destruction that it was shot in October. Not the case. These images are from two weeks ago:



Devastating. Some of that is difficult for me to watch. To think, so long after the storm such devastation remains. While progress IS being made, so much more work still needs to be done for people whose homes and lives were destroyed.

Please find any way you can to help. THIS LINK brings you to the fund set up by Gov. Christie's wife Mary Pat. For more of our stories from Sandy, you can check out the links under the #JerseyStrong tab by clicking HERE.