From the Friends Experience
To the 9/11 Memorial
With Katz’s Deli and Levain in between
and the Friends building and Cornelia Street
and Washington Square Park
And dinner at an Australian-themed restaurant in Astoria

The silly and whimsical and delightful and fun
The delicious and surprising
The devastating and heartbreaking
The nostalgia and memory
The new

​New York. 

Central park was in fine leafy green form
Bethesda Fountain
Looking radiant against a bright blue sky
An extended family of turtles
Paddling through the water in the lake just beyond

At the Alice in Wonderland statue
A grown man pretending to eat one of the mushrooms
His friend has an Alice in Wonderland themed t-shirt
With teacups and Mad Hatters and tumbling Alices
And he filmed her speaking to the camera in Portuguese
Lewis Carroll/Alice/Central Park

Both the Met and the Guggenheim were closed
But we ended up at Rockefeller
Ascended to the 70th floor
The views!
Oh New York, you are just breath taking

The last time I was up here
It was nearly 15 years ago
Before Aaron
Before cancer
Before immigration
With Kris
Before The breakup

And now, seeing the same view
Fifteen years later
Having lived on both sides of the island
And south of it
And been through
All of That
And having decided that I want to become a US citizen
It all just hits differently

And we had lunch at the Lexington Candy Story Luncheonette
And we had coffee at Little Collins where I became best friends with a 10month old whose mama was enjoying some pancakes
And we walked by Bryant Park
The little girl on the carousel! Marvelous!
And snuck into the Rose Reading Room

And then a Broadway show
& Juliet
Just delightful and heartwarming and exciting and fun
And dollar slice in the rain

And falling into bed
After another exhilarating and exhausting day

I arrived at the airport
And saw a family reuniting
It was a real life Love Actually moment
Watching them reunite
Hugging and crying
All that emotion
I’ve missed you, my kin
And suddenly my little baby sister was here
We had breakfast in Astoria Park
And then walked nearly the entire High Line
Before jumping off to visit Little Island
Then walking all the way down to Battery Park
And at the last minute hopping a ferry to Ellis Island
We walked over 12 miles (according to my phone)
And treated ourselves to a very well-earned burger and fries and milkshake
Before coming home and collapsing in a screaming heap
What a treat to play tourist in your own town
What a treat to have that town be New York City
What a treat to be here

the satisfaction of doing laundry
the smell of clean sheets
the softness of a new duvet
of making the bed in preparation for my sister’s arrival tomorrow.

one more sleep!

In the morning
I went for a walk
With my smoothie
And my new walking shoes
And a lovely podcast in my ears

And then I went to work where I had 
The surprise of an early
When I was expecting to be late 

And I came home and binge watched excellent TV
And did the laundry 
And decided at 8.30pm that I wanted to cook
So I popped out to the store

And on a Sunday night
Astoria was hopping 
All the lovely cafes and restaurants and stores
And all the people and families 
And the fairy lights
And the sun not setting until nearly 9pm

And I made a delicious salad from the Abel&Cole recipe book
​And I got a little more work done
​And I felt content. 

How I love watching the audience
Seeing their joy
Their excitement
Re-living a show I’ve seen dozens of times
For the first time through their eyes
The laughs, the gasps, the moments of stillness
The raucous applause
It’s the same thing eight times a week
And every night it’s a different show
The privilege
Of being in the room
Where it happens

The strange joy of connecting with another survivor
You share a common language
A similar experience
Even if the circumstances were entirely different
Cancer is cancer is cancer
The unusual bond you share
Symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, the aftermath
BC and AC
The luck of surviving it
The thankfulness you feel
The understanding of having been to hell
And back.

thank you earlier me
for taking the time
to do the laundry
and drying the sheets
so that later me
could feel the the joy and luxury
of falling into a freshly made bed
at the end of a long day.

When you see someone
Doing the thing
And doing it well
And they inspire you to be better.

​I finally got some new running shoes
A promise to myself
​To start again.