6/14/08
Magic at Midnight, or an Adventure in the Big Apple
I love, love this pic of NYC. Found it on flickr, courtesy of Rick Elkins, he has some other great photos of the crown jewel of American cities.
In early 2006, my husband's job moved us to NYC. Being a family of five, with not-perfect (or even remotely good) credit, we wound up in smelly, trash-ridden Jersey City, NJ, with Michael commuting to work via the PATH most days. One night, he was working late on a project (lime.com), all of his coworkers lived in the immediate area, most with no cars, and he realized that the last PATH train had come and gone twenty minutes prior. Flustered, he called me, neither of us knowing what to do.
Eventually we decided the best thing was to wake the children up, toss them in the car, and for me to drive into Manhattan at midnight to pick him up. He worked in the 37th st area, right in the heart of the garment district. I rarely navigated NYC traffic- preferring the subways and sidewalks myself- so driving in, alone, with 3 partially sleeping children, was something of an adventure. The traffic was no less at midnight than it was at noon, or so it seemed, and we rounded the corner of Times Square exactly at 12am. I woke the children up to see the lights, we found Michael in a matter of minutes, and we all stopped for an early morning hot dog in the blustery March cold.
Life has taken us in other directions since, and we now reside in rural Northern Michigan, far away from the screaming traffic and overwhelming light pollution of big cities. But my two older daughters have never forgotten the magic of waking up to dazzling lights and steaming sewers and a warm hot dog when they should have been asleep. We all miss New York immensely, and hope to return someday for another adventure, preferably at midnight.
In early 2006, my husband's job moved us to NYC. Being a family of five, with not-perfect (or even remotely good) credit, we wound up in smelly, trash-ridden Jersey City, NJ, with Michael commuting to work via the PATH most days. One night, he was working late on a project (lime.com), all of his coworkers lived in the immediate area, most with no cars, and he realized that the last PATH train had come and gone twenty minutes prior. Flustered, he called me, neither of us knowing what to do.
Eventually we decided the best thing was to wake the children up, toss them in the car, and for me to drive into Manhattan at midnight to pick him up. He worked in the 37th st area, right in the heart of the garment district. I rarely navigated NYC traffic- preferring the subways and sidewalks myself- so driving in, alone, with 3 partially sleeping children, was something of an adventure. The traffic was no less at midnight than it was at noon, or so it seemed, and we rounded the corner of Times Square exactly at 12am. I woke the children up to see the lights, we found Michael in a matter of minutes, and we all stopped for an early morning hot dog in the blustery March cold.
Life has taken us in other directions since, and we now reside in rural Northern Michigan, far away from the screaming traffic and overwhelming light pollution of big cities. But my two older daughters have never forgotten the magic of waking up to dazzling lights and steaming sewers and a warm hot dog when they should have been asleep. We all miss New York immensely, and hope to return someday for another adventure, preferably at midnight.
Labels: adventure, hot dog, kids, midnight, New York, travel
1 Comments:
At June 15, 2008 12:07 AM ,
w3bsmith said...
NY was unreal. So many things to love and miss. Like that pier in the picture, the same pier I used to look at daily after getting off the sub in the morning. And picking up chocolates for you to help make up for not being home as often as I'd like to be; and to your face light up after every bite and experience of something new.
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