Christmas 2006

I hope everyone had a great Christmas (no PC-ness here!) and was able to enjoy family, friends and the reason we celebrate this time of year.

With the exception of the two-hour delay at LaGuardia causing us to get back to the apartment a little after 1am, our trip to NYC rocked. We stayed plenty busy, played the part of tourist by taking nearly 200 pictures in the six days and hitting the major sites the capitol of the world had to offer. To get a better idea of our adventures with accompanying pics, check out the blog Paula keeps here.

The highlights of the trip for me included (in no particular order):
1) Seeing Les Miserables at the Broadhurst Theatre. It was incredible, to say the least. I’ve seen four Broadway shows now and I rank them in this order: Les Miserables, Wicked, The Lion King, and Phantom of the Opera. I honestly almost got choked up in the last scene – it was that good.

2) Going to Ellis Island. We hit the Statue of Liberty, too, but her torch wasn’t a candle to Ellis Island. Paula hit on it in her post, but there’s something to be said for the feeling of a place where millions and millions passed through to begin a new life.

3) Meeting people. Dave is from South Carolina and headed for an 18 month tour in Afghanistan. He has a daughter who just graduated from college and he’s LDS. That was a cool connection; we met him while grabbing some pizza after putting our name on the 1½ hour waiting list at Serendipity. Nice guy.
Met an ex-NFL player and his family while chillin’ in the lobby of our hotel; they were really nice. He played 9 years in the league, 6 with the Bills as their center. He’s going to law school now and they live in New Jersey.
A couple from Rockdale County at LaGuardia sat across from us as we waited for our flight. Paula Zahn was on CNN with this report about racism in America, the focus on white people being racist towards others (of course there was a clip from the Michael Richards debacle) and how not that much progress has been made since the 60’s. Meanwhile, I’m sitting next to my Hispanic wife having an enjoyable conversation with a black couple.

4) The crowds. You have to take New York in doses and by Day 6 I was ready to get back to the slow Atlanta pace (this from one who hales from a town of 200 in Wyoming. I’ve evolved), but there’s something to be said for being part of the massive hordes of people. I know NYC isn’t even the biggest city in the US, but the throngs and throngs of people all on the street is incredible and something everyone should experience.

5) Being with my wife. I’m not trying to win points here (I did that with the trip and the bracelet from Tiffany’s. I should be set for a while), just stating the facts. Life without hardships is a wasted life; it isn’t the Creator’s divine plan for his children to float through life without challenges and obstacles to overcome. But, if the opportunities present, there should be brief periods when there isn’t a care in the world.

That’s what New York was: no punk kids from dysfunctional families for Paula to worry about, no monotony of work for me; no meals to prepare, no house to keep up; carefully planned budgeting and saving for the past nine months abolished any worry of spending too much money.

It allowed me to reconnect (not that we ever disconnected) with my best friend, remember the wonderful idiosyncrasies that inspired my break up with Abby, quit my job, move to a new state and start this phase of my life. I’m no cockeyed-optimist; I honestly look forward to life’s challenges – they’ve always made be better and the Lord has always seen me through. But it sure is great to be able to step back a enjoy everything I’ve been given.