Weekends

Look at this place! I'm hooked. I can't believe it hasn't been 3 full months yet since we moved here and already my pace has shifted, my legs move faster along the City's streets, my mind juggles a hundred different things - wait, that has always been so. Still, so much has changed about my routine. So much movement where previously there was less. So much energy. Again I return to recap events, but there are special significant mentions I must make before I gush on about New York: Happiest Future to our dear friends Timmy and Angela, who wed last weekend and whose event we attended in Ohio - I hope your honeymoon was filled with romance, love, beach, sun and laughter; Happiest 30th Year to a special friend from my freshman terms at Indiana University, Jen, with whom I was reunited Wednesday at the Nolita neighborhood's Sweet & Vicious, for the first time since 1999! and I will get to that; Happy Friday to Craig and me, finally, after a long week filled with so much, yet again; and best of luck to myself! as I gear up my mind to begin my first New York City fiction writing class this fall! And I will get to that.*The week lasted far too long, as I implied, but New York unfolded itself to embrace some of the most beautiful weather. The blue skies over the City positively glow, especially from the vantage point of the 7 train as we commute into work each morning. This morning, unfortunately, greeted a heavy haze, but by mid-afternoon the blue skies pulled through again to deliver us a fabulous start to the weekend. And tonight Craig is taking me on a dinner date in SoHo to unwind from all the action.*So, yes, after all of the turmoil at London's airport last week, the plots, the threats, airports have once again sharpened their only weapon of defense: security. Liquids were not to be carried on the planes. This included such items as shampoos, colognes, even my faithful jar of Blistex! So we checked a bag to fly for one night to Ohio to wish Tim and Angela a longlasting marriage. Checking a bag at LaGuardia was a whole two-hour ordeal. By the time we dealt with a slight delay, landed in Atlanta for a layover, dealt with more delay, boarded another plane for Dayton, flew to Dayton, landed and settled into the rental car, we were exhausted. I approximated our travel time, Upper East Side apartment door to hotel-just-outside-of-Cinci door to be ten hours, minus maybe 24 minutes. Needless to say, we were wiped out, but we were genuinely overjoyed to have the resources available to us to join friends in their celebration. Some do not have such good fortune to be able to do these things. Tim and Angela held a simple cocktail reception following their private ceremony in Angela's parents' home, and they looked so lovely, the charming couple. Wonderful wishes to them forever. Travel time home was equally exaggerated in length, so by the time we ground to a halt on our couch Sunday late afternoon, we were more than beat. It's peculiar how travel can be so draining. Then the week began and Tuesday I joined Lauren and her roommate Amanda in packing Lauren's boyfriend Jeff's kitchen and media. Jeff is leaving his apartment in the Upper East Side and joining forces with Lauren - and my, a talented pair. They are absolutely incredible to know. Lauren made us chicken cacciatore with her grandmother Noni's fresh tomatoes, and we drank wine and talked and I stood on my very first New York City fire escape! despite my awkward slight fear of heights, and to stare down 1st Avenue and watch the daylight dim calmed some of my weekday nerves. I stayed a little too late for a weeknight, but that didn't stop me from turning around and doing it all over again Wednesday. My relationship with Jen is ancient, and was actually short-lived in college, for that matter. We met as freshmen and clicked instantly, and went on to spend a greater portion of the entire year stitched to each other's sides, with a third friend Matt who is altogether another story for some other time. We parted ways for the summer and basically never found our way back to one another: I met Lauren as a sophomore, and many other incredible people, and Jen threw herself fully into the drama, literally, of the theater crowd at IU. There were no irreconcilable differences, simply a departure from one another. Anyway, I've remained in slight touch with her through the years, only to learn that since Craig and I have moved to New York, we would be invited to her 30th birthday party in the City (she and her husband currently reside in Hollywood, but lived here for quite a few years following Jen's graduation from IU). Seeing her...it awakened a lot of the old and extremely fond memories. At first, we sort of just let the impact of our reunion linger there while she tended to other friends and I held close to Craig's side, feeling even out of place, a little. But before long, the veil of our curious reunion lifted and it was all screams and hugs and So Tell Me's...and it felt so nice. Seeing someone that you spent a large portion of time really caring for, feeling such a strong friendship with, after so much time spent apart, was nothing short of amazing. I bought her a journal and she opened it and she even got wet eyes! And she was hundreds of questions about Craig, and about my moving experiences...I met her wonderfully handsome and talented husband Richard, who was just as soft and interesting and smart in real life as I could have hoped he would be for Jen. Before I knew it, it was nearing 1 and Craig was stuffing me into a cab and Jen was telling Craig to take good care of me, I have a huge heart. Brilliant, to see old friends again. Just perfect.*Craig just emerged from the shower and is ready for our date. I will return with more of my ever-growing fascination with living here, details on the writing class, and wonder at all that this City has managed to give to me, in just under 3 short months.