New York Groove

A wise man once said, "Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

Okay...it was actually Ferris Buehler who quoted that, but you can't argue with his philosophy...he pretty much was dead on.

Take yesterday, for instance...because we're over 100+ days into the disaster known as Hurricane Sandy, the management at the American Red Cross has generously given the volunteers the day off on Sunday. Woo hoo!

However, this led to a dilemma...I could either use my time off to catch up on much-needed sleep, laundry and reading...

...or I could go over and get a taste of the sights and sounds of the Big Apple, otherwise known as New York City.

Hmmm...a lazy Sunday...or give my regards to Broadway???

Decisions, decisions.

Not.

Manhattan...I wanted to see it...smell it...touch it...feel it...taste it...I wanted to LIVE it.

And I did...and it was AWESOME.

Did it matter that the wind was gusting at 40 mph, with wind chill temperatures below zero???

Did it matter that I'd be walking miles and miles with a barely-recovered broken foot????

Did it matter that I really didn't have a clue as to how to get around, and not get lost?????

Not. A. Bit.

Twelve hours...where I went to mass at the historic Saint Patrick's Cathedral and saw the studios of ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX and walked down 5th Avenue, Broadway, 42nd Street, and Fashion Ave (7th Ave) and took a 90-minute walking Architecture/Art tour of Rockefeller Plaza, where I watched the ice-skaters and learned anything and everything about the fabled Rockefeller Center and saw Radio City Music Hall and Madison Square Garden and Christie's Art Auction and fought my way through the thousands of visitors at famed Times Square and went up 67 floors to the observation deck of the GE Building (the Top of the Rock!) and saw the beautiful skyline of Manhattan and bought a pretzel off the street from a vendor and drank hot chocolate from Starbucks to warm my frozen extremities and dodged cabs and pedestrians and tour buses while maneuvering the crowded crosswalks like a native...

...AND took in a Broadway show, ("Wicked", in case you're wondering), thereby crossing off #47 from my Bucket List.

Whew. What a day.

Just like the film "Ferris Buehler's Day Off" was a love letter to Chicago, my day yesterday was a love letter to Manhattan...I wanted to capture the essence, the spirit - and the energy - of a city that was everything - and more - that I ever thought it would be.

Yes...I was freezing...and absolutely, I walked to the point of exhaustion...and most definitely, I got lost once or twice...but it was a day of memories that I'll never forget, and I was positively giddy with excitement for the full twelve hours.

For one day, my "little town blues" melted away - and I was king of the hill...top of the heap...in beautiful New York.



Peace.