My World Is Empty Without You (Lays)

Hurricane Sandy was predicted to hit shore the next day and all the news stations were using scary words like emergency preparations, go-bags and water rationing. We've been through some New York disasters before so we were still in the honeymoon stage of this storm. When its kind of exciting and almost fun, like something unique is about to happen to you, even though it could also be horrific. A silent thrill.

I wanted to save all the food in our fridge in case we needed to hole up inside the apartment for two weeks while the city was powerless and running savage on the streets. We took off to Target for what we didn't know, it just seemed the best place to be around here if you were preparing for something bad. P was worried about his corner beer store losing cooling abilities. People were pushing anything into their carts, hoarding canned soups and bread, eggs, milk. Even the beer shelves were low so we knew people were taking this seriously. While other people were calmly shopping for new clothes and unrelated items. Clearly they had not just watched 24 hours straight of Fox 5's FRANKENSTORM coverage and been scared out of their wits by all the elaborately described possible scenarios. The high winds toppling the skyscrapers, subways flooding, storm serge rising to unthinkable heights. And the power outages, one of the more scary events because that's when people can begin getting truly feral.

For me though at that moment, my worries were running more along the lines that if we were to die tomorrow, what food did I crave the most or need to have so I could pass over contently. Since the small bags of Lay's regular chips were my one last guilty pleasure and since P forbid me to eat them after we thought those and maybe cheese was the cause of my migraines months ago, it was becoming clear why God had lead me here to Target's bountiful snack aisle. P granted me the allowance of a chip trifecta if you will but insisted we only get the single serving tiny bags to share. I made big salami and ham sammies, which we also don't eat anymore because of the nitrates, on rye with mayo and served them along with a big pickle slice and my carefully chosen trio of chips. Ruffles with ridges, Cheetos Crunchy and Lay's Kettle Cooked Jalapeno.