If you're in your own house right now, consider yourself lucky. About 4 years ago, Hurricane Sandy hit Long Island and left, taking my house with it. We were being told to evacuate and to put all outside belongings such as bikes, toys, etc. inside. I didn't think the next time we would sleep in our house and live there for good wouldn't be until 4 years later.

When I first stepped foot into my house after the hurricane, it was one of the most heartbreaking scenes you could have ever imagined. You couldn't even open the front door because my couch had been turned upside down and pushed against the door, covered in mud and seawater. I walked a little further to see that the back doors had been blown out and were nowhere to be seen. My bathtub had literally become a mud bath due to the amount of seawater and mud that had overtaken it. Oh, let's not forget the pots and pans that ended up on the total opposite side of the house as well as the two fish tanks that were on the counter top. Sandy decided to test their lives with saltwater waves, they didn't do too well. When you went in the backyard , you'd find piles of mud, wood, garbages, fences, tables, chairs, everything that you could possibly imagine... But you have no idea where it came from. There was even a staircase in our backyard. One of most upsetting things that I had to see that really hit home, was the home videos and pictures covered in mud. Ruined. The video that was wedged between the wall and the back of the couch that read "Nicki's First Steps". We had had baby books from when my brothers and sister were younger that have now become folders because they got water damaged. You save what you can and remember what you can't.

Although the damage was highly destructible, nothing has ever brought my family and neighbors closer together. From living literally 2 feet from each other in a camper, to moving back in just to move out again, and now moving back in soon, they've always been there. The amount of care, love and affection that came from all parts of our community really brought out the unity within it.

"Bad things do happen in the world like war, natural disasters, and disease. But out of those situations always arise stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things." -Daryn Kagan