Spring Break 2023: NYC Random Memories

The look on TJ's face when we exited Penn Station out onto the busy 7th Avenue and 33rd Street in front of Madison Square Garden as he glanced up at the Empire State Building.

Times Square at 8:00pm on a Sunday, packed with people; tourists and hustlers.

The view from the Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center at night, in a chilling wind, looking out on all of New York City.

Walking the Brooklyn Bridge toward the city and marveling at the architecture of both the bridge and the city and knowing my mom would be so happy we walked the bridge.

Showing the boys exactly where Daddy threw up on the Staten Island Ferry after his NYC Marathon.

Watching Grant play chess in Central Park with a very nice stranger who coached him in ways mom and dad can't. 

Seeing a "traditional" Broadway Show and having TJ fall in love with Philipa Soo.

NYC Bagels. NYC Pizza.

Sitting at a small table, literally in front of Macy's Department Store at night, sipping ShakeShack milkshakes, underneath the Empire State Building lit up in orange and blue. Later walking through Macy's and seeing the old, wood escalator and having a faint (but vivid) memory of standing in the exact same place with my mother almost fifty years ago.

Walking the sacred and hallowed space of the 9/11 Museum and being overwhelmed by it all. Crying at the weight of it all - knowing how it changed lives forever.

The $hitstorm media circus that was Donald Trump's arraignment in a New York City Court. But we were there to witness history.

Watching our boys try to figure out this thing called "Modern Art" at the MoMA. It was easy taking in Monet and Van Gogh, but we had a hard time explaining how some dead guy's toenail and beard clippings in a jar on a shelf was art. 

Watching our boys run in Central Park, as spring bloomed everywhere, like they have been doing it for years.  

Our boys letting us take them everywhere, most days walking 8 to 9 miles, without complaint and at the end of the trip stating that they would like to go back and do the things we missed.

Being turned off by Chinatown but totally loving Little Italy.

Seeing "big spaces"; the deep blue of the Oceania room in the Museum of Natural History, the silent reverence of St. Patrick's Cathedral, or the bustling noise of Grand Central Station.

Connecting with parts of ourselves, the movies that we've seen, and revisiting old memories of things and people gone by in a new set of memories and experiences.  

Tacos No.1. If you know, you know.