Clinton Township Newsletter

3 o c t o b e r 2 0 2 1 Carol Beder's Julie Flynn Oriental Rug Specialist Since 1934 Sale & Service of Oriental Rugs & Carpets OUR ADVERTISERS SUPPORT US. PLEASE HELP US BY SUPPORTING THEM. I don't feel the need to watch scary movies – I think real life is (sometimes) scary enough. Due to the pandemic, it had been two years since I had seen my father and my stepmother who live half the year in western North Carolina. Recently I had a wonderful visit with them again. Unfortunately, Hurricane Henri had just hit their area hard, blowing out some bridges and roads and, tragically, causing some fatalities. I timed my return to get back here just a day or less ahead of Hurricane Ida, thinking that we'd probably get rain, but not much else. I even stopped at a museum in the Shenandoah Valley on the return trip, regretting that decision later that night when I hit Interstate 78 surrounded by a million massive, speeding delivery tractor- trailers. Add to that highway construction and an accident – not my own, but I was just waiting for the sound of the crunch of metal on my little Chevy Cruz. Fortunately though, that didn't happen. Finally, safely back at home in New Jersey, I thought I could relax. ... And then Hurricane Ida hit our beloved Hunterdon County... hard. Our house got between 6" and 8" of water in our basement but, thanks to a hastily-bought second sump pump, we had it cleared within 24 hours. While we were pretty dismayed at first, we later considered ourselves lucky. In the following days, I saw first-hand what a massive amount of water dropped in a short amount of time can do. Most shockingly, six people in our County lost their lives. Many bridges were washed away locally, and three tornados touched down in our state that day, which destroyed at least 20 houses. Now, in addition to my post-Hurricane-Sandy fear of trees, I have a post-Hurricane-Ida fear of streams, creeks, and rivers. I love trees, rivers, and creeks – just don't let them get near my house. Climate change or weird weather – call it whatever you want but it's bad. As I'm writing this, we have just passed the 20th anniversary of September 11, 2001. I attended two local ceremonies (in Flemington and Clinton) which were done beautifully. We adults who remember it are all still feeling the sadness as if that day were yesterday. It's hard to fathom that twenty years have gone by – but the people we lost, and their families, are in our thoughts, always. Last week, my older son and I decided to ride along with my younger son as he dropped his girlfriend off in NYC midtown on a busy Wednesday, to catch the charter bus back to their college, with our daughter meeting us for what we thought might be a leisurely lunch. Lunch ended up happening on the roof of my car with our hazard lights flashing (very briefly) in a bus lane, as there was nowhere to park and traffic was a nightmare (typical, for the city, though). My kids enjoyed seeing each other but I was, while circling Manhattan, again bracing myself for a possible collision – or worse, a bicyclist or pedestrian meeting our car in a bad way. I guess my car is a country car at heart because it rebelled against the urban onslaught and decided to cut off our air conditioning for the rest of that day (restoring itself once safely back in Hunterdon County). Thank goodness, that was the worst thing that happened that afternoon, that we know of – unless of course, we happen to get mail- ticketed later on, by way of a bus's camera. The month of October always reminds me of our kids' college application season (nerve wracking!), as well as their earlier years of trick-or-treating, school Halloween parties, and costume parades. To all of the students and the parents of those teens who are in the middle of the application process: bless your (exhausted) hearts... stay strong! And to the parents of young kids: enjoy every minute spent with your small children and those Halloween events. Of course you've had more to worry about, with the Delta variant, than we did back in the day. Fretting about what snack to bring to a child's class, or what costume they should wear seems quaint to me now. Today I worry if my (adult) childrens' apartments, and my children themselves(!), are in safe areas, and I know I have no control over this. (I often say that I never truly knew the meaning of fear until I had children.) And last but not least, the pandemic still looms. With the year and a half that we've been through, who needs scary movies? I hope you all have a serene, unfrightening October!

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