Email From My Dad: Return to Brigantine

Dear friends and family,

Woke up early this morning, 7:00 am.  We were anxious to get home and assess the damage. We left Phylis' brother's house at 8:30 am, and stopped at McDonald's. Phylis had two Egg McMuffins. I had the new oatmeal. Not bad. We then headed down to the Shore. The conversation along the way was limited, mostly because of my voice problems, but also because both of us were trying to imagine what we might find. We had received no information except for the general view that parts of the Jersey Shore had been devastated. We had heard that the Shore would be rebuilt, but would not be the same. A little scary. 

What worried me most was the paperwork, administrative bullshit, and bureaucratic inefficiency. Phylis is terrible at this sort of thing, and my usual negotiating and communication skills have been greatly impaired. Also, I am not too good at shoveling sand, working pumps, evaluating electrical problems, determining what is and isn't safe, and a thousand other things that I can't even imagine because I have ignored these things my whole life. Phylis would have to take the lead in these areas. 

Driving over the bridge into Brigantine, both of our anxiety levels increased ten fold. Our initial impression was that the town didn't look too bad. We were hopeful, but still worried about our block. We drove up to our house and did not see any water. My car was parked in the driveway. I looked inside, no water, and it started right up. We walked into the house, looked in the garage: everything seemed OK. We switched on the downstairs lights--no problems. We walked upstairs and throughout the house.  Everything was exactly as we left it. The final test was the TV.  Totally OK, including cable.

I am happy to report that we have had absolutely no damage or problems. We are now going to drive around the island and survey the situation. Tonight we are going to the Borgata for six nights. We made these reservations in anticipation of not being able to live in our house.  I hope our luck continues.

Love to everyone,

Ira and Phylis