I've done a little poking around and it looks like my friends aren't on the coastline, so while they had no power at least at some point, they weren't flooded, thankfully, so they and their animals were safe. Which is good to know.

My dad's family is in CT (a very large family) so it's a frequent visiting place for me, but I've never lived there. I managed to avoid moving west (my mom's family is between TX and AZ) because I'm a northeasterner born and bred and can't really imagine being anywhere else. My husband grew up right here in the capital district, and always wanted to move to MA, but when we realized that we were both really settled here, my parents moved here (and out of MA) instead to be closer to us. So it seems like we're entrenched here, and I like it, so that's cool. I came here for college, then grad school, and never managed to leave again.