I know time flies when you’re having fun but what about when it’s anything but fun?

Today is the 8th anniversary of Superstorm Sandy (it was not a hurricane) which pummeled the Jersey Shore and other parts of New Jersey leaving about $40 billion worth of damage and causing the death of some 12 people.  From a personal standpoint I was very lucky as we did have some major tree damage but only lost power for about an hour while others just a block or two away went a week without any.

My mother who lives in Seaside Heights left a couple of days before the storm and was not able to return for several months but for the most part made out pretty well.

Of course that was not the way it went for thousands of our friends and neighbors throughout Ocean and Monmouth counties and amazingly eight years later some have still not fully recovered.  They are waiting for promised financial assistance which in some cases is needed to finish work on their homes but tied up in government and insurance red tape.

I am sure many of you have memories and not good ones of what happened on October 29, 2012 when Sandy brought a storm surge that left devastation and destruction in her wake just two days before Halloween.  It was neither a trick nor treat but a blow that is still being felt as many never returned to their damaged homes and businesses.

There was an upside although clearly not the way we would have wanted it.  People banded together to help others under the “Restore the Shore” banner that could be seen everywhere.  Whether it was cleaning up property, providing meals and shelter or sharing a generator we came together in an effort that offered some relief to those who in some cases were living a nightmare that was very much real.

Driving along Route 35 in Mantoloking, Brick and other places you can still see open space where homes once stood and I guess it might be like that for years and decades to come.  It’s a reminder that a storm named Sandy left a permanent impression on the Jersey Shore.

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