Casting Call

"my life has a superb cast, but i can't figure out the plot"

Easter Sunday

It's Easter Sunday today. It was pretty much like any other Easter Sunday; church, food, family and meeting my sister's mother for the first time. Say what?!... I'd spoken to her before on the phone but meeting her was definitely a highlight. She's a small petite woman, who's an absolute sweetheart. She flew in from the Dominican Republic last night and seemed extremely excited to be here. Enide's very big now and expecting the baby in July, so the timing couldn't be more perfect.

In any event... the fam on Easter:

Strangers on the Bus

Today I met the beautiful Gloria Noval on the bus ride home. I sat in the very front seat of the bus right behind the bus driver and she came on the bus almost out of breathe. I was in the middle of searching through my bag for my headphones, but as soon as she came on I could tell she was a talker and my ears were elated. We got the talking about her business in NY. Her husband had just had a hip replacement at the NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases and she was there to visit him. She and her husband have been married for 45 years, they are both psychologists and just by the way she talked you could tell she loved him very much. She used to counsel young women in abusive relationships and shared with me the secret to her happy marriage. "Fight the issue... not the person." When arguing, never talk down to the person or talk badly about the person.. only the issue at hand. Simple and brilliant at the same time. From that point on, we went on to talk about her four adopted children, our professions, insecure girls, motherhood, genetics, fabric shopping, thrifting, and the list goes on. She had a hard time with the bus constantly stopping and going and was getting nauseous, so all I wanted to do was keep her talking and not think too much about the movement. When I got to my stop we said our good-byes and parted ways, but I knew I wanted to record somewhere that I met Gloria today and she made my day a bit brighter.

Walk It Off...

I was randomly thinking today about how I used to take such amazing walks around the city on my lunch break. I haven't done so in forever. I must get back to it. The afternoons went by so much smoother after my walks.

Randoms from my walks:

 42nd St 

     

 34th & Broadway

 Rockefeller Center in the Spring

Rockefeller Center

54th & 6th

30 Rock!

King Tut Expo - 44th St. (Times Square)

Intrepid Museum - Pier 86

Roseland Ballroom

Parrots on 44th St.

My Entourage

The Key players:

The Diva - age 8

While getting dressed: "Why are your thighs so big?" (she seemed very perplexed by this)

The Free Spirit - age 5

On why she doesn't wear socks: "Its not cold outside"

The Boy Wonder - age 3

While driving home: "Ummm.. did you know that yellow light means slow down"

"Your Gas light is ON... that means you don't have any gas, that means its on E"

"There goes a gas station... we should stop and get gas"

(pics from St. Patty's Parade)

Feelings

Within the last forty-eight hours or so I've felt a sense of anxiety, anticipation, contentment, understanding, nervousness, melancholy, hopefulness, elation, longing... all jumbled up into one. Its been [insert understatement here].

Bus Ride Blues

On my bus ride home today, I sat next to a girl that cried the whole bus ride to her stop. I wanted so badly to ask her if she was alright, tell her its going to be ok, or just give her a hug, shoulder to lean on, hand to hold. However, she had her iPod on high, stared out her window seat, and paid no type of attention to me. (days like these, I hate modern technology.. its like the plague to social interaction... but that's a whole separate issue). The ironic part about all of this is moments before I got on the bus, I received some fairly unsettling news. I too had a bad case of the sads and wouldn't have mind baring my soul to a perfect stranger (I think). Instead, I too put my music on high, closed my eyes, and pretended I didn't notice. 

Dear anonymous girl on bus,

I truly hope everything is ok. As for me, I'll be alright. Just not tonight.