One favorite memory is the blackout of 1965. I was on the top floor of Macy's. The lights went out. The escalator's stopped. We all fumbled our way down to the ground floor and out into totally dark Manhattan.
I lived on West 15th Street. Not much of a walk down from 34th Street. In no time, people with flashlights appeared, some directing traffic through the dark intersections. Candles appeared in windows.
That evening, since the buzzer system was out, a friend tossed penny's at our second floor window until we went down and unlocked the front door. What makes the memory happy is the peaceful, mysterious, we're all in this together, whatever it is quality of the experience.
Speedy recovery, NYC, NJ, and all of the East Coast of America. Cheering you on!
Resources for recovery:
Travelling Free: How to Recover from the Past by Changing Your Beliefs, paperback or e-book
http://mandyevans.com/archives/travelling-free/
Peace with the Past, audio recorded live at the Betty Ford Center
http://mandyevans.com/archives/peace-with-the-past-audio/
Healing the Disaster Within, (free) article
http://mandyevans.com/archives/healing-the-disaster-within/