Not Yet

Last night when I talked to Mark on the phone, I was dodging throngs of people and trying to keep up with Adam.

Mark said, "Mom, it's weird to wake up and not have you here.  I'm not used to it.  Are you used to New York?"

No.

Not yet.

I don't think I ever want to stay long enough that I'll get used to it.

Yesterday was a good day though.  Exhausting but exhilarating.

Adam and I took the subway together then went opposite directions...he to work and me to MoMA.

It did not disappoint.  I wandered around soaking it all in.  Then I took another lap past the Seurats and Van Goghs.  Then another walk past the Monets.

I sat on a bench in a room lined with Barnett Newman's paintings and wondered if I could duplicate them in my own house.  On my walls.  Maybe not.

Adam called me when he was done and we had lunch at Pret.

It's one of my favorite places to eat in London.  I knew they were in NYC as well and luckily there was one right around the corner.  After, when I was "doing the dishes," there was no recycling place to put the Diet Coke cans.  I looked all around the room.  Throwing a soda can in a regular garbage feels like sacrilige.  I'm from Seattle for heaven's sake.  I finally asked an employee and she took them from me.  She told me she'd take care of them and called me sweetie. (Maybe she tossed them in garbage after I left.)

Adam and I rambled through Central Park a little.

It truly is a refreshing break from the hustle and bustle that is Manhattan.

But you still know you're in New York City.  There are still crowds and sounds and...smells.

Adam and I parted ways again while he went to MTV offices at Times Square.  (They're clients of Amazon's...he's not considering a career switch to become a rock star.)  I poked around in various shops while I waited for him.  Then, ready to drop from all the walking walking walking, I sat on some steps and watched the city pulse around me.

In one store I was chatting with the friendly clerk.  He wondered where I was from and what I was doing in the city.   I made a small purchase.  The clerk pulled out a large bag for me.  I said, "I can just put it in my purse.  I don't need a bag."  He looked at me like I'd suddenly sprouted donkey ears.

"What?"

"I'm from Seattle," I reminded him.

He smiled, shaking his head and said, "You hippies."

I guess.  Maybe in the Evergreen State being "green" just seeps into you and you can't help yourself.

Adam and I met back up and he fired up his laptop to read restaurant reviews.

We don't take dinner lightly.

We ended up at a wonderful little Turkish restaurant that looked like nothing much from the outside but turned out to be delicious.

We were both tired and determined to get our rental car and ditch the city for our next destination, the quiet of Westchester County.  As we were walking, we passed the Majestic Theatre, where The Phantom of the Opera is playing.

On something of a whim, we bought tickets.  We hadn't planned on going to a show because they seemed so pricey.  But pricey is relative.  When you spend $4 for an 8 oz bottle of Diet Coke (as I had earlier in the day), pricey becomes relative.

The Phantom of the Opera was amazing.  I have seen the movie and I know the songs and both my sisters have seen the play (and told me all about it) but nothing prepared me for the way I felt at the end.  Even though I knew the Phantom was sort of a psychopath, I felt like crying for him.  He was an AMAZING singer.  An AMAZING actor.  The sets and costumes and orchestra...

I loved it.

I wished Braeden and Emma had been there with me, Braeden and Emma who inundate our home with piano renditions of the musical.  (I never should have bought them that piano book.)

We rented our car and headed out.  When we started heading north out of the city, I started seeing signs for New Haven.

I think I'll cry when we go there.

I was happy happy happy in New Haven.  And those were formative years for our marriage and family.  I wish Mindy and Lisa and Apryl were still there.

That would make me happier still.