Points2Ponder

 "Who can ever forget this image of a crane dangling over NYC?"

                                     Points2Ponder

                                                                                      By Alan P. Scaglone

 When you say the name Sandy, I think of 3 people.

Sandy - BEST friend from high school.
Sandy - BEST friend from church.
Sandy - BEST neighbor in the whole wide world!

But… after this past week… I have to add one more to the list.

Sandy - BEST surprise my friend Teeto ever had—on a family vacation!

Points2Ponder  When’s the last time your vacation that you have planned out and counted down—got interrupted by inclement weather?

My buddy Teeto and his lovely wife Stacey and my nephews(they call me Uncle Alan) Luca and Liam had been planning a Road Trip all year long!

Teeto’s aunt and uncle were celebrating 50 years of wedded bliss and had invited every family member to come celebrate.
They are this Big Italian family who is the picture of what you see on movies like Moonstruck—everybody talking at once, but hearing everything said.
Full of life, full of love, full of laughter—just a complete joy to be around.
I’ve been blessed to have become friendly with Teeto’s parents Mario and Pippina also. They are full of life and laughter and so welcoming.
So… the whole family was coming to the Anniversary Party, from Florida to Italy—yep, Teeto said they had relatives flying in from Italy.
Now that’s some party!
He has been planning this thing all year long!
Serious—we started talking about this trip in January!
And he and his parents and his sister Maria and her husband Ian and their three kids—all going to this Big Party!
We counted down the months-- to weeks -- to days!
He put together all of his vacation time at work so they could have ten days together, just making memories with the boys and their family.
Yeh—they made a few memories alright!
They left Florida last Thursday night, taking their time—the party wasn’t until Sunday night, so… they had time to just check out the sights along the way.

Plenty of time…

To get to …
Oh yeh… I forgot to mention…
The party is in Queens!
Yep—that Queens!
You betcha—the one in New York City!

Just spending a week with family in his old neighborhood—planned it all year—what could go wrong?

Did I mention the name Sandy?
Yes I really did—before he left, while he was on the road, when he arrived…Sandy, Sandy, Sandy!
But… it didn’t stop a good Italian family from throwing the 50^th Anniversary Party to beat all other Anniversary Parties!

That was Sunday Night!
Went off without a hitch!
Danced the night away!
A good time was had by all!

Just 24 hours later—

Teeto and his family were hunkered down, in his cousin’s basement, power out, generator running, 60 mph winds blowing outside!

Oh the difference a day makes!
I texted him through the night—they were okay—got pretty scary a couple of times—but, my nephews didn’t even know what was happening—that was good!
And the next morning, when he walked outside—there it was, the devastation that Sandy left on New York City!
The subways are flooded, the planes are grounded, the streets are empty!

Sandy, Sandy, Sandy!

No one saw that coming…

The best paid plans of mice and men…
Can’t plan for, or work around, the Perfect Storm! (that’s seriously what the weatherman was calling it!)
You just gotta roll with the punches!

Just 24 hours later--

Still no power, streets still abandoned…

Teeto sent me this text today…
“The City that never sleeps—yeh Right!”

 TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK!  We made it EASY TO COMMENT!

SELECT the link BELOW!   YOU can send Alan an email!   Come on—Share your memory!

Share your weather altering memories!