Looking back on it.

Irene's come and gone without too much fuss. I packed a suitcase and went over to my parents' place to hunker down with family for the worst of it, and even though we weren't hit badly I think that was the best thing I could have done - not just because it was easier on my parents to have me there, but because it was one less thing to worry about. The mental insurance helped everyone. We were in an outlying area, in strong and stable buildings, with a good infrastructure that could cope with the damage and plenty of supplies in case something went wrong.

My brother and I went for a walk on the Hudson yesterday morning right around when it started drizzling, and when we got back we were soaked - it'd started pouring hard and heavy about a half-hour after we left, churning whitecapped waves on the river like we were out on the ocean. It let up a bit for a couple of hours, but when I walked over to my parents' after dinner it'd gone back to torrential. We got several inches in a few hours, which is about what Davis might get in a record-setting wet January.

Sometime last night it tapered off to steady and gentle, and this morning it was just a steady drizzle, enough that my dad, my brother, and I could take a walk on the Hudson this morning too, so we could see what'd changed. There were more people out, for one, and we talked about how this was a rare chance for novelty for New York City - the only time to do whatever they might do, except in a hurricane. The river was calmer and higher, and some trees had fallen in the park. But other than that, the impact on us was minimal at best. The worst of the flooding was down at the Battery, and the subways and buses were shut down for the duration. And trust me, I know how lucky we were. I was able to go back to my place for dinner with nothing worse for wear, just some wet clothes drying at my parents'.

I think the single biggest impact that Irene had for me was giving me the chance to take a bath. One of the things my family did to prepare was fill the bathtub with water in case we needed it to flush the toilets. Since we ended up not needing it, I used it this afternoon before letting it drain. I didn't bathe in it - I just sat in the tub and let myself relax. It's been years since I've taken a bath, and I know why I can't take them too often with all that water going to waste and them not being as effetive as showers, and I wish I could take them more often since it felt so good to lie back in the water. I know I'm lucky what I can remember is something as comparatively mundane as a bath, and I'm glad for that.

It was windy when I went back to the Hudson a few hours ago to check up on the sky: everything was cleared out and fresh, no rain whatsoever, only wind and clouds. Tomorrow should be even more majestic, and I'll have to go back to the Hudson again to make sure.