So ya know how I mentioned life throwing us some curveballs, particularly issues with our house, in a previous post? How we’ve been tested several times over, in many respects, to remind us how much we can handle? 

WELL…the universe felt us starting to relax a little and said…”ummm NOPE!”. 

Tropical Storm Ida was NOT sweet as apple cida’. New Jersey, and specifically our darling town of Cranford, was hit hard by this beast of a storm. They called for 4 inches of rain, and we got 12, in a very short amount of time. While the lovely Rahway River runs through our town, and our property backs up to it, this was not the biggest factor in the widespread damage. The river did indeed overflow, and our backyard took a hit, but the major issue for many was the failure of the storm drains that couldn’t keep up with the volume and speed of rainfall. One minute I looked out at our front yard and there was nothing. I looked out again 5 minutes later and there were waves pushing into our home. PSA – if you see several feet of water in front of you while driving, TURN AROUND. Not only will you spare your car and life, but you’ll spare the homes nearby that will be impacted by waves created by your vehicle!!

All in all, over 4 feet of water in our basement (which all came from the street overflow) and about 2 feet of water in our yard and garage. 

Usually, I over-prepare for things. I’m a cautious person and I have general anxiety, which makes me excellent at risk mitigation and terrible at relaxing. I went out of my way to prepare our yard and basement when Tropical Storm Henri came through just two weeks prior, which turned out to be nothing for our area. I did not take the same measures for Ida, as the predictions didn’t call for it. We saved what we could from our basement, but we lost a LOT…

My happiest save was our box of sentimental Christmas ornaments, and of course some of our musical instruments (RIP drum set and wireless microphone ☹). Our kids slept through it, and we are mostly better now after two weeks of constant repairs/replacements. Our community rallied together to help those in need, which was truly a beautiful thing to see and be on the receiving end of. One of the many reasons we (still) love living here! 

Switching gears a bit, I don’t want this whole post to be about the storm. In keeping with my theme while under these circumstances, I want to pay brief homage to what I consider to be the comfort food of kids music. In stressful times, we turn to things that give us the warm and fuzzies, and in this case, the legendary Raffi!

Before the pandemic, I wasn’t fully aware of the breadth of Raffi music. Sure, there was Baby Baluga, but I had no idea how many songs he made over the years. A broad collection of covers and originals dating back to the 1970’s that are so wholesome and fun. Even though these are classic kid songs, they don’t make me physically cringe (cough cough, Cocomelon, cough cough).

A huge part of the appeal for me is simply the quality and variety of instrumentation. I love the fiddle playing in “Market Day”, the harmonies in “I’ve been working on the railroad”, the horns in his cover of “Octopus’s Garden”, and the banjo and ukulele in many other songs.

Raffi is not silent about his political beliefs, and his newer rendition of “Young People Marching” reinforces how critical climate change is. It’s encouraged important conversations with our 5-year-old about taking care of the Earth. Ida also served as a reminder!

Also, his lullaby version of “Itsy Bitsy Spider”makes me emotional. 

I don’t need to tell you to add Raffi to your kid’s playlist because you likely have at least one or two songs on there already. I simply want to acknowledge how comforting of an artist I find him to be, and how his music has been a staple over the past 18 months of craziness with my two little cherubs. Pandemic, flood disaster, whatever. Raffi has been there!

I guess I should say…”Thanks a lot” Raffi! 

Final note, some book news, I recently got my first official review by BookTrib! See here: https://booktrib.com/category/childrens-books/

Take care out there. Playlist updated. Thanks for reading!