Breezy Point, 11/20/12

Me & Ann @ Breezy, 11/20/12

November 20, 2012

Headed out to Breezy again today; this time I went by myself. I got into the car @ 6:00 a.m. I felt like I was running a little bit late, but I had not slept very well and missed the clock when it went off. It was chilly today, overcast and gray like November is on Long Island.

I hit rush hour traffic, but heard some great music that made the trip more enjoyable. As I got onto the Belt Parkway, it slowed down around JFK and then again near the enormous landfill. I made my way to Exit 11S, and due to the heavy traffic, I noticed a few things that I hadn’t seen on previous trips: stray boats lying in the reeds in odd positions—displaced by the water and wind; strange, unrecognizable pieces of colorful debris scattered over wide areas, and vehicles that I couldn’t tell if they were parked or had been deposited in their positions by the storm.

I drove into Breezy and saw a new sign of renewal: The first stoplight was working! As it turned from red to green and I drove down the road however, the rest of the place was still a mess. Yes, there was progress being made: Huge piles of garbage gone; clear open spaces where I think there used to be homes—now bulldozed away as though the lives there never existed, and fewer volunteers. The fewer-volunteers part was disturbing. It was obvious that there was an enormous amount of work that still needed to be done, but as days rolled into weeks, the storm had become an old story. Old stories do not draw throngs of fresh volunteers. The people who were around were indeed working hard, but they looked tired.

Looking Through the Wall, Breezy, 11/20/12

I arrived and was greeted by Ann and her daughter Lula, two of her daughter’s friends—Lauren and Meghan--and another pal—Ian. The 6 of us were ready for a hard day’s work. It had been suggested by Jim that all of the sheetrock be pulled off the walls from about 6 inches below the crown molding. This should come down along with the insulation behind it. There was probably mold there and as depressing, overwhelming and “expensive-to-replace-it-all” this sounded, it was decided that it had to be done.

The system was 1-2 people would make their way around the room and do the measuring. The rest of us followed behind and scored the lines with utility knives and then pulled the sheetrock off and the insulation out. At one point, Ann was turned sideways and speaking to me, her face in a silhouette. As she spoke, I could see her breath—it was cold—probably 10 degrees colder than it had been on Sunday. We put our masks in place and the work began. In short order, our layers of jackets and sweaters were stripped off as the dust flew among the room of dedicated workers.

Bird's Eye View of the Work in Progress, 11/20/12

I thought about putting a step stool in the car before I left but had not done it; Ann had told me that she had 3 ladders and we figured that would be enough. One of the ladders turned out to be too tall for the room however, so we were down to 2. I went back to my car and found a modeling stool and brought that in—it worked just fine as a step stool. The work was filthy and exhausting. The strange angles that my body got into while I was scoring the lines made me very aware of my obliques and triceps; I knew then that I was going to feel it tomorrow.

Scoring the sheetrock was an awkward job. The lines were relatively straight but that didn’t mean that the sheetrock came off along those lines. Weirdly, misshapen pieces would come off the wall. I figured out that the dampness of it helped determine how easily it came off. I also figured out that there were different kinds of sheetrock. Some of it in the hallway was extremely hard and cement-like in its nature. We started a contest to see who could pull off the largest, cleanest cut. Oh, the thrill of small victories! And then, I pulled a piece off that was covering holes in the wall; these holes were stuffed with newspaper. WOW! Remember the model Marla Hansen who had her face slashed in Central Park? Well, I am here to tell you that that happened in 1986—we saw the headline on the crumpled up, yellowed cover of the NY Daily News. We felt like archeologists discovering lost artifacts. It was nice to forget for a minute or two that we were tearing down the walls of Ann’s house in order to protect it from the mold delivered by the wrath of Sandy.

Finished! Breezy, 11/20/12

I will tell you that we did find mold. And when we did find it, we knew we had made the right decision to do this job. Everyone that I have met in Breezy has an exhausted, overwhelmed look about them. The decisions that they have to make, sometimes quickly and always in-unknown territory, are difficult, frightening and life altering. A small victory like—yes, there is mold here—confirms that correct decisions are being made under unspeakable circumstances. And, as frightening as it all is, the people who still have standing homes, albeit in terrible condition, have enormous gratitude.

The Awesome Crew @ Breezy on 11/20/12--Lula, Ian, Meghan, Lauren & Ann

So on this gray Tuesday in November, I got to work with a wonderful crew of people. We all worked toward the goal of making the house whole again. We got 2 bedrooms, a hallway and the steps leading to the basement (now that was a funky situation down there!) finished. A couple of days later, a crew of volunteer construction workers from Pennsylvania came in and did the rest of the hallway and the other two rooms.

The road ahead is a long one and one that will just have to be taken one step at a time.

I will continue to expect good things....