WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO

We haven't fully recovered from 5 days with no electricity -- no heat, no light. Even though the electricity has been turned back on, those 5 days still seem like a nightmare. We're awake, but we find ourselves wondering where we're heading. 

And  now, today we are recovering, from the November 6th  election.

For more than a year we have been bombarded daily with words -- words about how bad things are -- no point in my making a list of bad things, you've heard what I've heard. The bad things are still there. We are just waiting now, to see what happens next in Washington, D.C.

When my husband and I were in the dark for 5 days, we couldn't read by candlelight. We huddled in our green living room, sat below the skylight, and tried to read. I read through a play I'd written that's still on my mind, and tried to make cuts, hoping I could find the play's essence. My husband, John Cullum, read a play by Christopher Marlow, the playwright that many scholars think was, perhaps, as talented or more talented than Shakespeare.  While "working" we listened to the radio, wandered back and forth, in and out of the kitchen, nibbling on saltines, and popcorn.  

We ate what was in the refrigerator -- Chinese food leftovers, two apples, two pears, and some of the stuff in the freezer that was thawing. We ate a lot of noodle soup with sliced potatoes in it, and hard-boiled eggs. I lit candles and did my daily barre exercise. John washed the dishes, and kept the kitchen clean. The bathrooms were too cold for showering or taking a bath, but the toilets could be flushed. We ventured down our dark, four flights of stairs, and went outside twice.  Everything was closed. The sidewalks and the streets were empty.      

What was weird and still hangs over us is the boredom, the endless hours of being seriously restless, in a strange limbo where things we do everyday couldn't be done. We listened to station WNYC on a tiny battery radio. Other people who were affected by "Sandy" were calling the station,  and explaining how they were coping.

Each day as daylight started fading, we lit two candles, though we were concerned about running out of candles, and played "Crazy Eights," a card game.

In our area of Manhattan, the crisis is over.  We have lights and heat.  There's traffic and people on the street and sidewalks. We are back to doing what we normally do. John's a successful actor -- he's being considered and is considering other jobs.  I'm a writer  working on a blog. Today, we'll film a short video for my blog, and post it on AirBroadcasting, our YouTube channel.  Being self-employed, we're okay financially, but still haunted -- aware of how hellish it was for us, and still is for many, many people who are suffering, and still seriously impaired. The aftermath of "Sandy" has to be dealt with and will be dealt with as the days and weeks pass.

The election aftermath -- all those bad things on the list before the election, will be dealt with as time marches on. Will we, should we keep going over and over the issues, and wonder what Congress will or won't do? Or focus right now on ourselves -- work, habits, tidying things, shopping, social things, and family?


I'm thinking -- now is the time to figure out what's important, essential, the best thing for you. If you've figured it out,  or have been doing that for the past year or so, do it again.

Take care of you -- do it now.

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