New York

I love a good surprise. On a very last minute whim, I booked a ticket to NY for a weekend to surprise my parents a week after their 50th anniversary. There was a dinner party planned for them and I didn't want to miss it.

I arrived late Friday night, almost midnight, Auntie Evelyn picked me up at the crazy hip new Jetblue terminal and we returned to her home in Harlem. Evelyn lives in this tiny spot of Harlem Renaissance history that has mostly been frozen in time. She lives on Jumel Terrace across from the Jumel Mansion, which now has classes for kids on all sorts of things like gardening, and anything to keep them interested and off the streets. The mansion itself is now a museum.

You might be able to notice in the pictures that the streets are still cobblestone. How cool is that? Apparently not very since they don't get quite the attention they need and it can really mess up the bottom of a car on the bumpy parts. I still think its cool.

These houses aren't as nice as the ones across from the mansion which really are the most amazing brownstones from the late 1800's (didn't get a good photo though).

On Saturday, I visited with my old friend David in Chelsea and we had a great time catching up. Always good to be reminded of your past 15+ years later. It was as if no time had past.

Finally, Evelyn and I took the subway down to the restaurant in the late afternoon, getting there crazy early to prepay the garage for my parents. but of course, since my parents are always about 5 hours early to everything, "just in case," they were entering the garage as we were leaving. My dad drove right by me, but my mom was standing right at the entrance to the street. It seems in retrospect, that I could have walked right by her and not been seen but I was stunned and couldn't move. She looked right through me even though I was two feet away and finally she sort of recognized me in an equally stunned way. After a quick "I love you" hug, I ran off to hide from my father.

When my parents arrived at Cafe Des Artistes, they sat at the bar waiting for Evelyn, who they were supposedly meeting for dinner. The maitre' de offered to bring them to their table which they declined, saying they would wait. The maitre'de got grumpy and insisted that they sit and brought them to a table for two, which they found confusing. Luckily, a few minutes later, Evelyn and I, along with two of their oldest, closest friends came in, this is finally the surprise part, and yes, they were surprised. Just like my mom, my dad looked right through me, as well as his best friend from college, not even seeing us. We discussed later that the term for this was "cognitive dissonance." I only mention this since the discussion was led by a tipsy therapist, old friend of my mom's from grad school.


I know, crappy picture but we're still waiting for the real photos to arrive. My parents are on the far left, Dad in front, my mom sitting next to me. It was a perfect dinner. Great old stories, lots of laughing and very happy parents. As shy as my mom can be, she really loved being celebrated. By the way, the restaurant is so beautiful, the food is great and well, it was indeed perfect.

I spent Sunday in Nyack doing what we usually do together, eat, buy yarn, discuss books, watch 60 minutes. I was exhausted by the end of the day, but did not want to go to bed since that would mark the end of the day and my return home.

We left the house at the crack of dawn Monday morning, got to the airport with PLENTY of time to spare. Boy, I sure wish I lived closer.