FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com FEBRUARY 14, 2013 • THE QUEENS COURIER 67 victoria’s secrets VICTORIA SCHNEPS vschneps@queenscourier.com BLIZZARD OF 2013 The beauty, the beast The blizzard of 2013 was at once beautiful and beastly. come in for our WINTER specials DYNAMIC DENTAL WORK 718-297-4100 • 718-297-4106 175-15 JAMAICA AVENUE • JAMAICA $500 OFF $500 OFF I sat in my sun-filled “sunroom” this past Sunday morning, touched by the beauty that surrounded me. With 18 inches in my backyard, I watched the beautiful icicles dripping from the gutters and observed the evergreens, whose branches were weighed down with snow. I was overwhelmed with the beauty of the scene. As I watched the TV coverage of the blizzard of 2013, there were reports of a woman stranded in her car for 12 hours on the Long Island Expressway. Tears welled in my eyes. While waiting to be rescued, she had written a goodbye note to her children and husband, fearing she would die before help arrived. How terrifying that it took so long to rescue her and the countless others stranded on the LIE in Suffolk County. Then there was an 11-year-old boy who was helping his dad shovel and got cold. He went to sit in the car to warm up, but the tail pipe was blocked by the snow and carbon monoxide, an odorless gas, filled the car and sadly the life of an adored child was gone, snuffed out tragically. It’s hard to fathom the destruction to so many lives in contrast to the tranquility before me. How beastly the weather can be! When I hear these reports it’s once again a reminder to tell the people in my life three simple words: “I love you.” My daughter Samantha is a loving, caring, involved mom and social worker by profession. She is president of her kids’ PTA and gets involved in the fundraising efforts of meaningful causes. Last weekend she participated in Cycle for Survival at the Equinox gym in Roslyn. The aim is to raise money for rare cancers. The money goes directly to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center for research. Samantha’s friends and her gym got her interested, and what appealed to her was that 100 percent of the proceeds go to the cause. Samantha and her team of eight women raised over $10,000. Now that’s woman power! TRAVEL TO CUBA A GOOD CAUSE Glorious old buildings with 50-year-old cars traversing the streets. Samantha (front, right) and her team at Equinox Gym in Roslyn raised $10,000 for Cycle for Survival. In my husband Stu’s DNA is a “travel gene” and his brother, Jeff, has it too. Jeff and his wife Martha have traveled the world. Last month they visited her birthplace, Cuba. They returned to visit her family and sent me some great photos of the city and what we would consider classic cars, but what the Cubans use as their everyday ones. I laughed when he told me how a taxi was made from three vehicles: the hood from a Buick, the sides from a Chevy and the bumpers from a Ford. He was riding in a taxi when it broke down, but by the next day it was back on the road standing in front of his hotel, ready for the next fare! Her family has a small eatery in their home. They are allowed a limited number of tables. Their friends supply the fish directly brought from the pier so a lobster lunch is only $4. Wages are low there but so is the cost, as reflected in the cheap restaurant prices. Their family leads a simple life but slowly the doors of the country are opening to freer travel and ultimately, perhaps a bustling tourist trade. Time will tell.
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