Dear God,

What exactly did I do to offend you so greatly that you have tried to prevent every vacation I have planned in the last year with some kind of natural disaster? Did I not suffer enough through the purgatory of my journey to Disney, narrowly escaping a brutal Nor'easter? Apparently not, since you had to send a hurricane to try and keep me off Long Beach Island. You were, however, kind enough to hold off long enough to allow H to land safely on the way home from a week long business trip*, for which I am grateful.

Never ones to be deterred by small things like downed trees and flooded roads, H and I successfully (if you can call turning a two hour car ride into a four hour sojourn) made the trip south despite the closed sections of major highways, and detours that lead us through the sketchiest sections of New Jersey. FYI - Howell Township is the oddest mix of underprivileged Hispanic and middle class Hasidic Jews. One block provides you with a check cashing place, laundromat and Delilah's Den advertising "Live Girls SEVEN days a week!", and the next, a Halal deli and Kosher cupcake bakery. Odd.

So we made it anyway, Lord. Maybe you were just testing us so we would really enjoy our trip, like you did with Disney. You even began the trip the same way with a dead car in the driveway (which you also threw at me last year on the way to the shore, but maybe that's more our own stupidity in allowing our children to touch random buttons in the automobiles). So if that is indeed the case, let me tell you how awesome it is already. The skies are blue, the air is clear and we are having the best time.

All I ask is that you hold off on the locusts and plague until I get back home.

XOXO,
MM