Joe ~ May 12

 

A  Lovely Saturday

 

I had a lovely Saturday. The plan was to spend a special day with my Son, Zack and my daughter, Bethany. They were treating me on occasion of my 70th birthday. I can’t say why for sure, but I have always had an aversion to being the person who is feted. Old stuff for sure, not being enough or just not deserving. I realize that my life has evolved to a more sane level of self appreciation, but it has been a battle to be fought daily. So, yesterday was one to sit back emotionally and stay out of my way. Acceptance was the order of the day and I did my best to stay in the moment and enjoy this time with my children, no matter what. 

My son and I drove into the city, parked the car and met my daughter at a busy little cafe and had some very fancy pastries and sandwiches served with a beautiful cappuccino with a lovely heart rendered with foam on top. It was terrific! The worst I could say is that I ate too much. Then we walked to the theater where “Merrily We Roll Along” was playing. This is one of my favorite shows and I was thrilled that they chose it. I had seen it in the past and if there was one show I wanted to see again, this was it. I thoroughly enjoyed every second of this Sondheim masterpiece. If this was it for the surprise, I would have been more than satisfied and happy that my kids were so generous and totally wonderful. But no, there was more. Soon, we were traveling on the Number One subway up to 110th Street and made our way over to the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine. My wife and I had lived in this neighborhood when we were first married and the kids knew it was one of my favorites places in NYC. There was an art installation on exhibit that filled the better part of the knave with multi-colored ribbons that were suspended from the ceiling and I found myself sitting there facing the large rosette stained glass window looking at the lights and colors reflected on the hundreds of ribbons as if it were a scene from a Harry Potter movie….truly magical!!! This mammoth gothic church is the largest of its kind in the world and it never ceases to overpower my sense of what can be done by us mere humans. We sat and toured the chapels and looked at the priceless artifacts sprinkled throughout this sanctuary that could accommodate a GoodYear Blimp within it’s stone walls. We were then politely asked to vacate the premises as they were closing up for the afternoon and as luck would have it, my favorite Italian Restaurant was located right across the street. V&T has the best pizza that I have ever had the pleasure of eating and again was another perfect stop on the birthday tour. 

Entering the restaurant we were guided to the room not visible from the entrance. I rounded the corner and there sitting before were family and friends anxious to spring the surprise. To say I was knocked out would be the understatement of understatements. I spent most of my time with my Grandkids on my lap, making them laugh, feeding them pizza and acting like a normal 4 year old who was making up for lost time. 

And one more thing…I was under the belief that Beth and Zack were financing this whole birthday celebration. As it turns out my daughter SueGyoung who is in Florida, paid for the whole kit and caboodle. My God? Am I the only one on this earth who you’re taking care of? I don’t have enough thank you’s to suffice the gratitude that is ebbing inside my heart.