Homecoming

Whenever Florida folks hear that I’m headed up to New York City, they always ask me, “Are you going to a Broadway show?”

While I do love theater, that is never a priority on my agenda.

A trip to The City gives me a chance to reconnect with my family, to look up friends that I hadn’t seen, and to get a taste of my old life.

And my boy gets his chance to bond with my family. He only sees them 2 or 3 times a year, yet there's now doubt that he absolutely adores them all and wants to cling to them at every waking moment.

The added bonus is that I also get a vacation from some of the tedium of being Mommy. I can dine with friends and hear about triathlon training and business trips to South Africa and raising children in The City and gossip about other people that I once knew, years ago.

The only downside is that three Manhattan dinners may have ruined my recent diet, and brought back the pounds, despite all that extra walking I did.

Usually, shopping is a highlight of the trip, but this year’s fashions just frustrated me. Or made me laugh. Peasant skirts, sheer lacy camisoles, and bubble skirts may look great up there, but it’s just not me. This Working Mom has become too practical to spend money on stuff that I know I could never wear to work.

I found the crowds annoying at times, too. One night, I went to the movies with friends and despite arriving well before the previews, it proved impossible to get 3 seats together. I also gave up on trying on clothes at one of the stores when I saw the line was 12 women long, most of them clutching huge armfuls of their own stuff. This is where Florida has spoiled me. Lines are unheard of, outside of the Orlando tourist zone.

Yet it was comforting to know that a part of me still fits in there. My brain clicks on “City Mode” and it all comes rushing back to me – how to navigate the streets, how to watch my back when I’m coming home late, how to bargain for bling bling in Chinatown, how to read the Times on the subway while standing in a cramped car. Those are things that no tourist guide to Manhattan could ever teach.