It’s been a crazy week here on the East Coast.  One week ago today we were just lifting our heads to get a good look at the havoc wreaked by Hurricane Sandy.  Then there were days of a weirdly split city, where half the population was stuck in a sort of post-apocolyptic stupor – no power, no water, no heat and in some cases, no housing.    Subways that didn’t run, overcrowded buses and long lines in every Starbucks north of the no electric zone.

One week later, friends in some areas of Brooklyn and Long Island are still without power and long, long lines for gas continue.

And oh yeah, it’s Election Day.

I’m writing this in between watching the results come in.  Thrilled that in my home state it looks like Democrat Donnelly will defeat the Tea Party Mourdock – he of the idiot rape comments and the idea that compromise in government is a sign of weakness.   Still nervous about the overall results but becoming more hopeful as the night goes on.

What a week of life learning.

Post hurricane, politics took a major back seat to the situation at hand, which is as it should be.  Government, on the other hand, became vital.   Watching President Obama and Governor Christie of New Jersey work together was a great lesson for all of us.   It was the silver lining of the hurricane.   Government can sometimes seem like an abstract thing, not always relevant to our every day lives; especially for kids.   But this past week, we got to see how government should work, even though it rarely does.

The craziness that has been the election season will hopefully come to an end sometime later this evening.  I wish the same could be said for the weather, but we are scheduled to get heavy rains starting tomorrow; something our flood damaged infrastructure can do without.

Fingers crossed all will go well.

On both fronts.