Hurricane Gloria hit Connecticut with a right hook in September, 1985. I had just graduated high school a few months earlier and as such was coming off one of the greatest summers of my life. Our parents had all been nervously chattering about Hurricane Gloria but it was easy to dismiss, as they were always talking hurricanes in September, and none had ever amounted to a darn thing.
Gloria was different. Obviously.
Growing up in the Morris Cove section of New Haven, power outages were rare back then. In fact, I'm pretty darn sure this was the first one in my 18 years. At least, it's the first I remember. I think UI even managed to keep the lights on during all of the Blizzard of '78 for us. I'm pretty sure 11-year-old me would remember otherwise. '78 was an adventure. Heck, so was Gloria.
A friend of mine had jumped into the wild waters smashing against the area's popular "Sea Wall", and had made it on to the local news doing it. I came home every night, for close to ten days there, and was greeted by candles lit about the house by my mom. Parts of Morris Cove came back on before others, which is often the case, so showers and hot meals were at my aunt's a few blocks away.
Storms are fun for kids. I wish I still was one.
1 of 1 Fort Hale Pier, after Gloria ravaged it.