Big Plans

So at this time tomorrow I will be IN THE CIT-TAY! The Big City, the Big Apple, Hog-butcher to the ... no, wait.

I'm going into New York tomorrow. My sister is already praying for me. She expects me to wind up dead, and said that if our father were still alive, I'd be re-thinking this whole thing. So now you know where I'm coming from, or whom I'm coming from, anyway.

Here's what this reminds me of, a little. Not long after K started college in DC, there was that whole sniper thing going on down there. In October, the Hubs and I went down for Parents Weekend, and lots of people said to me "How can you go down there when it's so dangerous?" and I thought, Hey, I'd be quite the coward if I didn't go because I was afraid of the sniper and yet thought it was okay for my kid to live there full-time.

R works in the city; she goes in every day by train and comes home alive.

Now it's true that in general I don't like going into the city. However, it seems that there are times when I can make myself do something that would otherwise terrify me, oh, say, like driving into the wilds of Connecticut to spend time with people I've never met. And yet that was an experience I wouldn't trade for anything. Not that I'm expecting tomorrow night to be life-changing, but I think it will be interesting and fun and I know I can do it.

Here's the plan: I'm going to drive to R's, park there, and catch the 4.30 train at the end of of her block and get into Penn Station around 5.15. I will walk -- in daylight -- the three or four blocks from Penn Station to her building. The event I'm going to is there, and in fact, she's running it.

(The event, btw, is a screening of a new TV show on the human heart and heart disease in women. There will be a "heart healthy" dinner served, there will be couple of guest speakers, and a goodie bag full of stuff, like pamphlets, and heart-healthy chocolate and who knows what else.)

The event is over at 9.00, but R will probably not be able to leave much before 9.30, which means we will not catch the 9.30 train but the 10.30. Whatever, we'll be hanging out together and will come home on the same train. We'll walk the half block to her building, where my car will be parked, and I'll drive home.

My only concern is the fatigue, since I'm always so tired, but I'll have a latte or something in the afternoon and that should keep me perked up, that and the fact that I'll be sitting in a room full of people and will have something to do, essentially. So I'll be fine.

I think my sister's concern is not so much robbery or street violence, but terrorism. Really. Here's what I think. Do not go into dangerous neighborhoods wearing jewels (note to self: take off diamond pendant before I go) or do things that are otherwise obviously tempting fate. That's just stupid. Terrorism? It's so random that there's no way to plan for it, so it's best left un-thought of. My sister, at this point, is afraid of public transportation. (Which is funny, because other than airplanes, she hasn't used public transportation in years.) She can't believe I'm getting on a New Jersey Transit train and going into Penn Station in New York City. Because they could be terrorist targets. Tomorrow. Night.

Oh, come on. As I've said before, if we live our lives in perpetual fear of terrorism, then they've won. And that's that.

So there. See you on Wednesday.

WATCHING FRIENDS :: ENTRY #1595