After a very long weekend of connecting and meeting up with family and friends that I haven’t seen in a while, I finally get a chance to sit down and share with you everything that has been happening. I’ll start with today and then jump back to the train ride here to New York.
It’s late morning on a cloudy and cold Monday and I find myself in my favorite spot in New York City; The Starbucks next to Dante Park across from Lincoln Center. Just north of Columbus Circle, it’s a great mesh of New York where you see the business piece, the cultural arts piece, the historical piece as well as the euphoric piece that are just a few of the many components that make this city the amazement that it is. As I sit here reflecting over the last week, I can’t help to remind myself that we are so lucky to be living in this country and despite all of our problems, and we all know there is a deficit of them, we will begin to resolve them soon. We have to.
On a much lighter side, it’s obvious that these first few months are going to be an uphill battle for me and Project Kinect, so, being in New York City, I decided I would go bother Al, Ann, Matt and Meredith at The Today Show this morning. Well, they weren’t bothered at all but I did get a moment on morning television and had the chance to meet a handful of great people from all over the country. There was this group from Lincoln, CA who sang last night at Carnegie Hall and wanted to do The Today Show before they left. There was a group from Georgia who were there for the sole purpose of getting their teacher’s son’s picture on television. I also met some people from Indiana as well as a mother/daughter duo from Oconomowoc, WI who had been the busiest tourist’s I’ve ever heard of. I look forward to the next four mornings outside the show meeting new people in my attempts to get some air time.
Getting to New York though was quite the process. Being the most inexpensive route, I took the train and boarded on Wednesday evening in Tampa, FL. That night large storms struck northern Florida and tornadoes dropped trees onto the tracks which took about five hours to cut up and get moved. This however was not a huge problem because I love the train and got a chance to meet Leah.
Leah, along with her two daughters, were in the middle of those storms and now were on their way home to Raleigh, NC. Leah and I sat there for a while and she told me about how she met her husband. They were friends for a very long time before they even looked at each other romantically. They were both from New York and moved to Raleigh about the same time never meeting. This was the third story I had heard in the span of a few days about people in love who happened to live parallel lives until one day there was a shift. Valoree from the Tampa hostel, she was another.
As Leah sat there and talked to me about her and Shawn, her husband, she got into her story in a bit more detail. She came to Raleigh pregnant with her oldest to escape the cold of New York. All of her family still lives here in the city but she prefers to only visit in the late spring. She found a home and life in Raleigh and that suits her to perfection. I could see how happy she was when she talked about her life until she mentioned her two daughters, and then she perked up with enormous pride.
Her oldest, Simone, is already big into fashion. I don’t think she could have been more than ten years old, and Leah told me how she spends most of her time reading about fashion, watching the shows, checking updates on line. As Leah told me about how she would rather be online learning than be outside playing, I had to think about the line between technology and children. There are times when a kid needs to go play and times when it’s alright for them to be online. When it comes to passion about a certain subject, does that line ever get crossed? I have no clue what the answer is and probably won’t even when I’m a parent, but its cyber-food for thought.
I asked Simone what her favorite article of clothing was and she told me, “It would have to be my silver shiny boot cut pants with the butterflies on them” A ten year old! I loved it and thought about my favorite article of clothing. For me, it’s my alpaca sweater with the deep cowl neck collar. I laughed when I brought it but now that I’m in New York and its forty degrees, I’m so happy.
Leah’s youngest, Miya, was falling asleep as me and her sister were talking. While she was awake though, she was definitely ready for everything. Not shy one bit and not afraid to inquire about what she had questions about. While Miya slept, Leah told me of her constant eczema and I completely related. Built up dry dead itchy skin isn’t fun for anyone but as a child, it is pure torture. I empathize with Miya because when I was young, I had an eczema problem too. I really loved Hi-C and the combination of all that vitamin C and the sun set a rage to my skin. No child likes putting cream all over their bodies because they have to. It will be over soon Miya and will just be a great antidote to tell to people younger than you.
Thank you Leah for making my trip to New York so memorable. You have two remarkable children on your hands and it can only be a testament to who you are. One day I may even be wearing a Simone.
Well, I then got to New York the next evening around ten. It was rainy and I was tired but New York does something to you and in an instant, with the city at your fingertips, you are rejuvenated and all is whole. This on top of seeing my best friend Matt, and then getting the chance to hang out with my sister Shaina, and a visit from Abigail who lives in D.C. set to a full weekend. I’m off to tour the True Colors Residence and check out the exhibit at the New York Public Library, Radioactive, on Marie and Pierre Curie. I do promise to not go three whole days without content ever again and will have more on the website this afternoon. I appreciate all your support.
Happy Monday everyone!
