Parent Packing

Tonight my parents are packing for New York City.  It has been at least 50 years since either of them have stepped foot onto Manhattan Island.
Over the phone this evening, I requested that my dad bring along his saxophone. 

To which my mom replied, "Why do you want him to bring his saxophone?"

                Because I want him to play it in Central Park…  (& It would be a great photo opp!)

My mom responded, "You better check the city ordinance to see if that’s allowed." 

Like I said, it has been a while since my parents have visited the Big Apple.  I think they're in for quite a surprise. 

California!

Double Dawg Dare

Almost Something More Stories

Last night I wished I could speak Portuguese. 

Tonight my Special Agent friend called to tell me that he just returned from Brazil.  He doesn't know Portuguese either, but for this trip he didn't need it.  Instead, he wished that he knew how to speak Norwegian.  Because he ended up on a rockclimbing excursion (that I like to think I help inspire) with a fabulous Norwegian woman.  My Special Agent friend shared with me he'll probably never see again, not because he doesn't want to, but rather because of the realities of life's circumstances.

It was one of those almost love stories.

We all have them, don't we?  Those times (which is seldom for me) when there is some sort of initial chemistry, but for whatever reason it just doesn't pan out to being anything more.  Someone loses interest, someone moves away, someone gets bored, someone is actually just super charming and is able to create that chemistry with nearly every person of the opposite sex (and sometimes the same sex too.)

It's confusing, actually, and disappointing as well.  But thankfully by now I've had enough of those "almost" something more stories that I've learned to be less expectant.  It's not that I'm jaded, but rather I'm cautious in my hopefulness.  Which, for me, is a good and healthy thing. 

And, right now, as life might have it, I'm hopeful once more. 

Portuguese

Tonight I wished I could speak Portuguese. 

Not because I'm making plans to travel to Brazil - at least not anytime soon - but rather because this evening as I was picking up some groceries (i.e. Peanut M&Ms, Bite Size Snickers, & Hersey's Hugs, etc.) from the K-mart on 34th Street, I stumbled across a little boy (age 3 or 4) who was in tears. 

He sat on the edge of a bottom store shelf, and a girl, who appeared to be his sister (age 5 or 6), attempted to console him in a language that I identified as not English, German, or Pig Latin. 

I suspected they had somehow lost their mother, but when I inquired about the whereabouts of their parents the little girl responded by saying, "We don't speak English."

So I tried Spanish.  And that didn't work either.  The girl responded by saying, "Portuguese."

So I tried one last time to inquire in English, "Do you know where your mom is?"

"Ma."  The little girl replied, and both she and her brother shook their heads yes.  And so I trusted that "Ma" was in the nearby vicinity and had place her son and daughter in "time out" as she was picking up a few other items a couple of aisles away.

I walked away with hesitancy, and now reflecting back, I wish I would have stayed with the two until Mom returned, because New York is not a city (no city is), that you should leave your kids unattended.

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Tonight my church celebrated its first Sunday evening service with kids programming.  We had a total of four kids present, but as we continue to grow as a local parish, we are hopeful that the number of kids in our church body will also grow.  I'd volunteer to contribute, but I haven't quite yet found the right sperm donor.

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I'd be the Color Blue

"I told myself I would never wear this combination in front of anyone aside from family." 

I paused from folding laundry to assess my roommate's outfit.  It didn't seem too peculiar of lounge wear for a Saturday night in, so I inquired, "What do you mean?"

"Crop pants and Uggs."  Her crop pants were capri sweats, and her Uggs - well, those are those odd-looking boots that somehow entered the fashion scene several years ago and even gained popularity in Southern California where it is warm all year round.

I wasn't personally offended by my roomie's outfit, but rather I was honored that she would feel comfortable enough to include me in on a family only thing.

My roomie Shannen and I have been living together in NYC for nearly two years now, and it has been a great fit.  She gets free housing, and I get a great friend, some groceries, accountability, and a free therapist. 

Of course, part of the deal is that she has to put up with my randomness, but she doesn't seem to mind.  Like a few months ago, when we happen to be going to bed around the same time, and I created an adventuresome bedtime story.  After the story I told Shannen, "I wish I would have had more creativity when I was younger - it's so fun to make up lies."

Of course, as a writer, I meant fiction - lies to entertain, not to lies to hurt or deceive.

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More recently I asked Shannen, "If you had to be another color - not a skin color - what would you want to be?"

She replied, "I'm not sure; no one has ever asked me that before."

"Really?"  I asked in a tone that suggested surprise, but in actuality I wasn't.  I had never been asked the question either.

"Hmmm... if I was the only person who was different color - probably yellow.  But if everyone was a different color I'd want to be blue.  How about you?"

"Definitely blue."  I didn't have a real reason, but I think perhaps watching too many episodes of Smurfs as a child played into my answer.  That, and being a Michigan fan.  One thing is for sure - there's hecka no way I would want to be the color red.  That'd be awful.

Another Night in Soho

If my life was a movie, I suspect that 88 Crosby would be included as one of the sets of the film.

After a rough day at work, and a decent jog in Central Park, an evening in Soho was exactly what I needed to be reminded that my life in New York isn't defined solely by my job at The King's College.  If it was, today would have been crushing, but instead today was simply an inconvenience.  Granted it is a major inconvenience, and hugely disappointing as well, but it's different.

Different in that... well, I've been through this once before and so I already know that in the end it's going to work out...

Even still, I wish inconvenience came with health insurance.