D2 In The City

So D2 is an official, working, living in a small apartment, new New Yorker. She started her job two weeks ago, and she and her man Jonathan are full fledged yuppies. Wifey moved her in over a month ago, and we're planning a big Thanksgiving family trip there, but in the interim Dr. Barry had an idea. His beloved Mets, also my childhood team, were going to be in the NL playoffs, and why don't he and I fly up to catch a game at Citi Field. His boy Scott would join us, training it up from Maryland, where he's a freshman, and we'd have a great weekend. The problem was, the schedule wasn't set, and the Mets would either start the series at home or in LA. As the flights got more expensive closer to the weekend, I pulled the trigger and bought a ticket. Barry waited, and it was a good thing. The Mets choked, and lost the home field advantage. They ended up winning, anyway, and now face the Cubs for the NL championship, starting tonight. But I was committed, and so it was off the the City alone... Wifey dropped me at MIA, and I checked out the new Centurion Lounge, which is for AMEX customers. It was awesome -- gourmet food, planned by celeb chef Michelle Bernstein, and they even offer free massages and mani/pedis. Finally -- my family will stop hassling me about getting to the airport too early -- hanging in this place is a fine start of a vacation. After getting on the crowded bus now known as a jet plane, we glided into LGA. I cabbed it to my hotel, at 34th and 3rd Avenue, and headed out for a bite. I found an Irish pub on Third, and took a seat at the bar. The red headed young lady took my order in a lovely lilt, and asked for my beer choice. I replied that based on her accent, it would surely be Guiness, and he drew me a pint. We chatted -- she said she was from a county in Ireland I'd never heard of -- Cavan. I told her not only had I heard, I had BEEN there -- with my brother in law Dennis when we took a men's trip back in '97. After my beer and snack, ok, maybe a mushroom burger is more than a snack, I walked around the 'hood. As fate had it, Eric and Dana were coming back from a Vermont trip, one Wifey decided against, as we had done one just a few years earlier, and were staying in the same hotel -- their girl Jenn lives blocks from D2. I waited in the lobby as the Affinia wine hour was ending, and, like the good friend I am, secured a few glasses of pinot for Eric and Dana who arrived late. As they checked in and drank, their girl Jen arrived, and then the doors opened up, and I heard Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" in my head, as I saw my beloved D2 -- wearing the color of new yorkers -- black -- and looking very much like the grown up junior executive she is. We had a great reunion, and then D2 and I shared an umbrella, brella, hey, hey...as we walked to her place and greeted Jonathan. The place is terrific -- small, but out of the window, a post card-like view of the Empire State Building. We met the next door neighbor, an Israeli guy who owns a bake shop and has a wild Labrador puppy. Good all around... We met Eric, Dana, Jen, and her rhyming boyfriend Ben, in a bar called the Hill. We toasted our awesome kids, though D1 and Josh were sadly not in attendance. I invited our friends to Sammy's, where we had dinner reservations, but they declined, for some finer fare. D2, Jonathan, and I ubered it to the Lower East side, to a capital of Ashkenazi culture. Since it was the City of the World, it was fitting that our driver was from Pakistan, and I chatted with him about Ahmjed, my long lost roommie from UM... Sammy's was, well, truly back to the future. The DJ, an Israeli, is a classic tummler, as good as any the Catskills produced. As we ate chopped liver, deep fried kreplach, skirt steak, and chicken, washed down with healthy amounts of frozen Stoli vodka, the DJ had us laughing and dancing. The rest of the crowd was all 20 somethings -- enjoying the best part of their great grandparents' culture -- the food, music, and laughter, without the guilt and recrimination about who they date, their jobs, etc... Saturday D2 and I met at her place, and as she came out of her door, dear friend Ali and her Mom Sharon walked literally right by. We decided to meet them for breakfast (though I already had a bagel waiting for D2), and we went to the Moonstruck Diner. Ali's fine boyfriend Blake met us, and we talked of UF years, and NY years to come. We then rejoined Jonathan, and walked to Union Square, where we visited the Strand -- best bookstore in the US. Jonathan left to meet some friends, and Ashley, another of D2's sisters of other mothers, joined us. We walked to the Village, and I bored the girls with tales of Bob Dylan, Village connections to Miami's Coconut Grove, etc... We found a lovely cafe, and drank wine, beer, and shared some fish and chips and cheese. It was delightful -- the weather was perfect, and the beautiful ladies at my table were just awesome company. We walked Ashley home to her street, and then spent time at the apartment, before heading over to Brother Jimmy's an "Canes Bar" nearby. It was PACKED with Canes fans, and we watched the Canes blow the first quarter to the Seminoles. We watched the rest of the half at D2's apartment, and then I went back to the hotel, and watched them nearly pull off the upset with Eric and Dana. Alas, they blew it... Sunday am D2 and I cabbed it again to Houston Street, and visited Russ and Daughters. I thought we could eat there, but it's just a shop -- with the best smoked fish in the world. Our nice Asian counterman spent a full 15 minutes slicing our nova and belly lox, with what looked like a diatome. We bought cream cheese, bagels, and rugelach, and returned to the apartment, where we enjoyed the best nova and lox we had ever tasted, looking out at the great Empire State Building. We then decided to walk the hood, and we did -- trying to see if we could make it to the East River by walking to the end of 30th Street. We could not -- it ends at the FDR Drive, and we saw the interesting gentlemen sitting in a garden outside of Bellevue... We walked to a small park, where we watched some young fathers playing with their little children, and D2 and I got all emotional and nostalgic. She told me she was so happy. I cried some tears of gratitude, which she didn't see. Hearing her tell me that -- well, it made the whole trip worthwhile. From there I cabbed it to Laguardia, and though I rarely talk on planes anymore, I sat next to a very nice Cuban woman, a longtime administrator from FIU, who was with her liberal Coral Gables church on a trip to watch a preview of the new Broadway musical about Gloria and Emilio Estefan -- "On Your Feet." The flight was extremely quick, with her enlightening conversation. So D2 is happy in the City, and I really think about 2-3 years there will be enough, and she'll come back to Miami, hopefully to bless Wifey and me with grandkids. Her sister, D1, is the very busy caterpillar, working a LOT on the opening of her Dietetics practice -- set for early 2016. And I am one happy, rocking Daddy in the USA.