The last place I ever expected to be on Friday night was in midtown Manhattan, being chauffeured by my niece, 22 year old Kate, on our way to meet my sister's friends, her goddaughter (all from Britain) and her goddaughter's friend (German) for dinner. It was a last-minute decision on my part to come along. I needed a break, a quick getaway from projects and deadlines to clear my head and (I hoped) get refreshed to dive back into work. So when my sister asked if I wanted to go, I threw some things together and we jumped into her Jeep for a race down the Thruway to make a 7pm dinner reservation. That's about a 5 1/2 hour drive, as my sister flies.
My sister had warned me that I better close my eyes when Kate drove into NYC. Kate met us at our hotel in lovely Mahwah (love that name) "The Parkland of Bergen County" New Jersey on the death-defying Rt. 17 commercial corridor. Kate has been commuting in and out of NYC (Riverside) into New Jersey, where she grew up, for a long time now. But sitting in the back seat, with diminutive Kate at the wheel (think Kelly Ripa) -- head barely showing above the headrest -- I felt completely relaxed as she jockeyed for position in lanes, crossed the GW bridge (I think??) and flew right into the heart of the city. NYC cabbies have nothing on Miss Kate. She gives up no ground. Honestly, she is my new heroine.
We ended up a party of nine at Ruth Criss on 51st St. Landmarks flew by -- Rockefeller Plaza, Times Square -- but the one I was most proud recognizing was the little church they used for a funeral in "Sex & The City", final season, when the "party girl" accidentally fell out a high rise window.
I sat next to Alan, the other half of my sister's friends. Sharon and Alan live in a village In England that only has 100 people in it, in a country home. It sounds just the kind of place I've dreamed of visiting. Alan walks his Jack Russell for miles along the hedgerows every day. (A dog that is actually living the life it was made for -- what a concept!) He used to be in banking & finance and was once a "suit" in the financial part of producing movies. He and Sharon have traveled all over the world. We talked about all kinds of things, and one of them was the gas prices here. (In NJ, gas was 30 cents cheaper than in NY). Alan put things into perspective when he told me that, compared to paying $11/gallon at home in England, gas prices, hotel prices, traveling prices here were a real bargain. They've been visiting some of the places they didn't get to see during their business travels and the time they spent living in New Jersey, when he was on assignment for his bank on Wall Street in the 1980's. Vermont, Pennsylvania, and Washington,DC.
Francesca, my sister's British goddaughter, and her friend, Nila, were on their way home from a 6 month journey throughout Asia and the Pacific. 20 years old and already seasoned world travelers. This is the thing: How did they do it? Well, they worked and saved up money to do it. The last time I was abroad, I saw and spoke to many young people from all over the world -- Japan, Australia, Germany, Romania, England -- who were doing the same thing. Worked to save the money, traveled for months at a stretch, and then got jobs along the way if they ran out of cash. Most were gone for 4-6months at a time. It seems here in the US we don't encourage that sort of thing, I think. With us, it's all about going to college, getting a degree by racking up huge debt, and then landing a job that will allow you to pay back the debt but never be able to leave or travel freely, getting the kind of education that Francesca and Nila got making their way in the world, the real world. Do our kids even want to know what's out there, or do they just want to experience the world via My Space??
We said goodbye on the sidewalk outside RuthCriss, between 6th and 7th. Francesca and Nila headed in the opposite direction, to the subway, pulling an extra empty suitcase for their trip home, looking like models. We walked three blocks to ransom Kate's car from the parking garage, and Kate delivered us out of NYC back to suburban NJ like the whiz she is.
Driving back up the Thruway, I was grateful to be able to have the experience of dinner in New York with wonderful companions, watching the New York spring unfold on the green and blossoming roadways, thinking about my niece and nephew who are so competent at negotiating their way in and around one of the world's greatest cities, and happily looking forward to a delicious breakfast on Sunday at the tiny Lafayette Diner in Canandaigua, where the food is great and doesn't cost $28 for cardboard potatoes and fake ham like it did in the NJ diner on Rt. 17.
Wow, the New York glam! I'll be ready for next week!
Sam
Posted by: bladder control | April 29, 2010 at 04:41 AM