A Day in the City

Hello!!

This past week my husband Ron, son Graham, and I went to New York City for a day. Graham, our Activities Director, had a day off from school on Thursday and declared that he “always” wanted to wave on the Today Show.

Graham has a habit of declaring where he would like to go on the spur of the moment and Ron and I somehow make it happen. We’ve been to Disney World with him and Cape Cod and The Great Escape Water Park and other places as well.

Since Ron and I wanted to make this adventure a spectacular one for Graham, we left Saratoga Springs on Wednesday night and spent the night at the Grand Hotel in Poughkeepsie. Our journey began in Poughkeepsie at 4:00 AM Thursday morning.

An early morning taxi ride to the train station was accompanied by wonderful classical music that even our blurry-eyed red-head commented on how beautiful the music was.

We arrived in NYC at 6:20 AM with ample time to grab a Starbucks and walk the few blocks to “The Rock.” We were early enough to get a place right at the Today Show railing and got to watch the cast and crew prep for the morning’s broadcast.

Soon our day was filled with meeting Al Roker and Ann Curry. We waved and got on the television three times which made Graham’s day. Along the way Ron and I met wonderful people from Boston, St. Louis, New Orleans and Rouen France. Since Ron is fluent in French it was great for him to get to speak it again.

After the Today Show there was the Nintendo Store, Lego Store, NYC Library, Empire State building and last but certainly not least Eatily. Let’s just say, my Italian DNA felt right at home amongst Eatily’s vast specialty selections. Grazie.

Reflecting upon our trip as we took the train out of the city later that day, Ron and I both commented on how wonderful it is to have the chance to spend a day in a place that is so international. To see faces and hear languages that we do not get the opportunity to see in Upstate New York is refreshing for us. It makes both of us feel connected to a bigger world community. It helps us to have a broader perspective on humanity and our role within our species.

While on the train, I checked my Blackberry for emails and received a lovely one from my cousin Kim. (Thank you Kim.) It moved me so much and followed the theme of our day so well that I am including it here for you to see. I hope you copy and paste this address onto your search engine and open it up. It is well worth the few minutes of play.

www.movebeyond.net/uploads/lighteninginajar.pps

We arrived home at 8 PM that night full of exciting stories to tell our other children as well as with numerous gifts. When we tucked Graham into bed a short while later we told him how glad we were that he asked to go wave at the Today Show. He was so happy and said it was his “best day ever.”

We kissed him good night and as we left his room we heard our Activities Director say, “Next summer I want to go to the London Olympics.”

Ron and I looked at each other and smiled...both of us trying to figure out in our heads, how we were going to make that wish come true.

Until next time,
Have hope,
Donna