Which, if you live where I do, you know is not, in fact, near Staten Island or the New Jersey Shore, even though the area was nonetheless devastated by Superstorm Sandy. In addition to the storm's natural forces, a massive fire—which many say was caused by the sea water coming in contact with electrical systems that weren't shut down as a safety measure—burned more than 100 homes to the ground as the storm raged.

Kathleen was interested to check out what we had to say about Breezy Point, as her parents had owned a bungalow there for more than 75 years. They purchased the 800-square-foot house in 1939 as a summer home, but later winterized it and lived there full time until the mid-'80s, when it once again became a seasonal residence.

For Kathleen, many memories were made there. It was a home to her. Even more than 700 miles away, she felt the emotional effects of the devastation wrought by Sandy. The house was not one of the ones consumed by fire but had been ruined by flooding just the same, and had to be gutted. Equally gutted were many of Breezy Point's residents, many of whom are still struggling to rebuild their homes and lives long after the glad-handing politicians, FEMA and Red Cross trucks pulled out of the area and Sandy's awful legacy dropped off the nation's news radar.

And in NU, there was no story about Breezy Point inside, and Kathleen rightfully wondered why.

When in doubt, call. So I did, and we shared a wonderful conversation during which a former New Yorker who's grown up around insurance (her father, as it turns out, is William Gruner, a former regional vice president for Allstate about whom she recounted several stories of deep dedication and whom I'm betting many of our readers know) and a journalist whose job it is to put a human face on stories about the insurance industry very quickly discovered that we had an awful lot in common—and a shared goal in telling the story of communities that took it on the chin, hard.

I explained how our cover shot was under no circumstances meant to be misleading or to gloss over the horrors delivered by Sandy in Breezy Point or anywhere else; in fact, when various images were put into consideration for the cover (and there were several powerful ones), this one stood head & shoulders among the rest for its grim depiction of the aftermath. Sandy affected many more areas than the Jersey Shore or Staten Island; to suggest that those were the only ones that took a hit would be utterly false. We talked about how our “First Look” photo illustrated to the rest of the nation just how hard Manhattan Island had been hit, how whole sections of New York City were blacked out for nearly a week. And how important it was for people who don't live on the East Coast to appreciate, at least on some level, just how horrifying this event was for so many people. They needed to understand.

And yes, she had a valid point about the cover image, and Breezy Point's story of recovery is undoubtedly one that needs to be told. Check that out here, now that this issue is in your hands.

In the meantime, Kathleen has the same hopes for Breezy Point that many of us do for the towns that continue to fight for some sense of normalcy again during a bitter anniversary.

“I have no doubt that it's going to come back stronger,” she says of her beloved hometown. “But it's going to be a while.”