New York, New York...

Saying goodbye to Mommy at the train station

Who goes to New York City for a long weekend....and forgets her good camera?!!!!  ME.  Grrrrrrrrr!!! Thankfully, I had my ipod touch with me so I was able to take some pictures...but they don't even come close to what my camera could do.  Oh well.

After we got back from Colorado, we had started to get back to our regular routine when I was informed that my extended family would be holding a Memorial Service for my Uncle Ronnie in NYC.  While Uncle Ronnie passed away and was buried in MN (the place where he and my aunt were retiring to)...his whole adult life and career had been spent in NYC.  It was important, therefore, to have a service in the heart of the city so his colleagues and friends could say goodbye.  It was also important to my mom that my sister and I join her and my Aunt Weezie in NYC for this weekend.

So....once again....Dave and Jeffery had a long "boys' weekend" (while my dad, who also stayed home, dog-sat my sister's dog) and I boarded the train (YES....the train!!!) on Saturday and settled in for the 6 hour trip to NYC and Penn Station.  

"If you miss the train I'm on, you will know that I am gone.   You can hear the whistle blow 100 miles"

Okay.  Taking the train is certainly NOT the fastest way to get from Point A to Point B.  It seemed like we were stopping every 20-30 minutes.  And the 6 hour trip is about how long it would take me to drive from VA to NYC....without any traffic delays.  But...if you can travel by train....DO IT!!!!  It was 6 hours of someone else driving, the soft swaying of the train on the tracks, and peace and quiet.  Of course...I positioned myself in the "Quiet Car" which is blissful if you just need 6 hours of quiet.  :)  They have WiFi...and 120 volt plugs so you can play on your devices and charge them all at the same time.  AND...there isn't the invasive security procedures you find at the airport.  I brought 1 carry on and it was a good 10 minutes into the trip before a conductor came around asking for my ticket.  There were no x-rays, no checking of personal identification, no body scanners....nothing.  :)  Like I said...peace and quiet.

When I got to NYC, I hailed myself a cab and went to the hotel where my mom, sister, aunt, and I were staying which was on the Upper West Side...2 blocks from Harlem.  The Memorial Service was being held at the Manhattan School of Music (where my Uncle graduated with his masters) and right across the street from the school is the Union Theological Seminary.  Within the halls of the Seminary is the Landmark Hotel -- rooms designed to cater to students' families and guests of the school.  As a result, the number of rooms open to the public at large are very limited but you really can't find a more economic place to stay in NYC.  The rooms are bare bones but very nice and there is a 24 hour guard at the front desk.  And...it sits right on Broadway.  Broadway and 121st Street to be exact.  And if we're honest....who goes to New York to spend ANY time in their room that doesn't involve sleeping and getting ready for the day?!!!!  Not this girl!

I was really looking forward to Saturday night.  One of my favorite musicals is Stephen Sondheim's "Into the Woods"....a musical that my Uncle played in the orchestra for both the original and the revival.  The first act, for those unfamiliar with the play, is a bunch of fairy tales all connected together somehow.  Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, the Baker and His Wife, Rapunzel, etc.  The second act is what happens after "Happily Ever After"....and it isn't so happy.  This musical was being performed by a company in Central Park.....for FREE.  All you had to do was get a free ticket...which were handed out at 1pm the day of the show.  First come, first serve and you only get 2 tickets per person.  THANK YOU to my cousins Molly (and her husband Andy), Pat, Ingrid and my Aunt Peggy.  They were sitting in Central Park at 4:45am that morning and endured 3 hours of rain...2 of which it was pouring rain...all so we as group could go see the show!  It was FANTASTIC and such a treat.  

"Into the woods and out of the woods and home before dark"

One of my favorite parts of the whole weekend was the walk back to Broadway after the show.  We walked several blocks to get to Broadway and hail cabs back to the Upper West Side.  It was 11pm and the city was alive and humming and it was so much fun to just walk the streets of NYC and talk with my cousins.

The next morning, my mom rented a car and braved the streets of New York and the whole group traveled 100 miles north of the city to Annondale-on-the-Hudson...or Bard College.  The American Symphony, which my Uncle was the personnel manager for, has taken part in the Bard Festival for a number of years and the horns were performing a tribute to my Uncle before the afternoon's concertized performance of Saint-Saens's "Henry VIII".  The country could not have been more picturesque or beautiful.  And I am determined that Dave and I will travel back to the neighboring town of Rhinebeck some day because it was as quaint of a village as you can imagine.

At the Bard Festival

This clip below is part of the French Horn tribute to my Uncle prior to the concert.  They opened with one of my all time favorite pieces: the Faure "Pavane".  It was beautiful.

After a blissful day...and some gorgeous music...we had a harrowing and long drive back to NYC where we encountered traffic coming out of the Catskill Mountains on their way back to the city and construction all while racing against my sister's dying iphone (our only navigational source)....and then completely missed our exit for the George Washington Bridge which sent us into God-Knows-Where, New Jersey and added an hour+ to our trip.

Monday morning was our own.  We had breakfast at a delightful place on Amsterdam called "The Kitchenette" (my herb and goat cheese omelet that I split with my mom was unreal!!!!) and then we hit the streets.  We stuck our heads into St. John the Divine (Episcopal Cathedral) which is the 4th largest Christian Church in the world...no kidding!  It was badly damaged in a fire in 2001 (not a good year for the city of NY) and is still undergoing renovation but it was beautiful inside.  We then made our way up to Times Square.

The last time Julie (my sister) and I were in NYC, we were in high school.  We were with our church youth group (42 youth and 10 adults) and were on a 3 week trip across the country.  After a trip up the Statue of Liberty and a photo-op in front of Ellis Island and a trip up the Empire State Building....we were then locked (not really but it felt like it) in a conference room in a high rise building over-looking Times Square....for 4 hours....and had to listen to presentations on Global Missions for the United Methodist Church.  I can assure you...that is NOT what a high school student wants to be doing in NYC with Times Square beckoning to them from the other side of the windows.  Almost 15 years later, Julie and I are still kind of bitter about this.  :)

So...she and I left mom and my Aunt Weezie and we took to the streets...almost running.  We went past  most of the major musicals on Broadway, saw some strange people, and marveled at the swarms of people around us and all the blinking and glittering lights.

Times Square

On our own in NYC

We passed Bryant Park (where they do the fashion shows every year)...and dozens of designer stores which made me thankful that I did not have "Burn Money" to spend as I could have spent forever there.  :)  We went into the Metropolitan Library and didn't know at the time that we could have seen the Original "Winnie-the-Pooh".  Drat!!!  And then we met mom and Weezie in front of Rockefeller Plaza.

The Beautiful Library

Rockefeller Plaza

After consulting my sister's iphone (which was alive again after a night of re-charging), we hailed a cab and made our way to the 78th pier and boarded a boat for a 90 minute Harbor Cruise.  This was another one of my favorite things of this weekend.  We started in the Hudson and made our way around the tip of Manhattan and up into the East River.  We saw the Empire State Building, the new World Trade Center 1 and 4 (in the process of being built), 4 of the 5 burrows (Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Staten Island....the Bronx is north of NYC and we couldn't see it), the financial district, the Brooklyn Bridge (interesting fact here: The Empire State Building took 13 months to build.  Seriously.  The Brooklyn Bridge took 13 years.), Governor's Island, Ellis Island, and the Statue of Liberty (which is currently closed).  It was so much fun to be out on the water and it was a great way to see the city.

World Trade Center 1 and 4

Aunt Weezie and Mom going under the Brooklyn Bridge

Me and Julie with NYC behind us

Me and Lady Liberty

Monday night was the Memorial Service for my Uncle.  It was a beautiful service and I am so happy that I was able to be there for my mom, my Aunt, and my Uncle's family.  The American Symphony pulled at my heart strings as they played Barber's "Adagio for Strings" and Dvorak's "Going Home" from his 9th Symphony.  My cousins and my Uncle's friends/co-workers did a beautiful job remembering their dad and colleague.  I am anxiously awaiting the video recording of the service as I want to show Dave the remembrance done by the director of the American Symphony (and the President of Bard College).  I can only say that if we would all be so lucky to be that highly thought of...to have those amazing things said about us....the world would be a MUCH better place!!!!!

The reception afterwards, on the 9th floor of historic Riverside Church and overlooking the Hudson, was a lovely time to process the beautiful service we had just experienced and be with family and friends.  And our late night Italian dinner (9pm....late for us...early for Italians) after the reception was the perfect cap to an amazing day.

The next morning, we all went our separate ways.  I hailed a cab and had a fantastic trip down into the heart of the city as I made my way back to Penn Station and the train that waited to take me home.  Julie and mom flew back to AZ and Aunt Weezie flew back to IA.  This was the third time we have all seen each other in 6 weeks.  While I am glad for the opportunity to spend so much time with people I dearly love, I wish two of those times could have been for happier reasons.  It is a shame that it takes weddings and funerals (especially funerals) to bring family together.  But...it was an amazing and beautiful and unforgettable weekend and I am forever thankful that I was able to go.

My cousin Olin, my Uncle's oldest son, quoted Emerson at the funeral in MN and again at this Memorial Service.  It is a beautiful quote and one that is fitting of my Uncle.  And again...I have to say that if this could be said of us...if we could hold this to be our definition of true"success"...the world would be a much better place.

To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.