Ginny and I visited Ruth in Manhattan, then traveled to DC, where I had a media conference to attend.
Ruth had been encouraging us to visit. Apparently, there is an understood ritual that parents are supposed to visit their newly sprung children after they graduate and get a job somewhere. News to me.
I lived in Manhattan for four years from 1986 to 1990. Been there, done that, but the pressure from Ruth and Ginny was considerable.
I picked the absolute best time to go weather-wise, the last week in September, when the highs are around 72 and it’s dry and sunny. I had visions of strolling leisurely around the Lower East Side and through Central Park, soaking in the sunshine and the perfect temperature.
As fate would have it, we arrived a day before a “nor’easter.” I found this to be unfair, since September is the first of seven months in which nor’easters are supposed to occur.
Most people associate nor’easters with huge blizzards, but they can cause lots of rain as well.
It’s called a “nor’easter” because they start off the coast in the Northeast and head southwest to land. On weather radar, they look like a clearly defined hurricane with a counterclockwise rotation pattern.
They develop within 100 miles of the coastline (typically between Georgia and New Jersey) when the polar jet stream channels freezing Arctic air from Canada out over the Atlantic Ocean. The freezing air collides with the highly localized warm air sitting directly above the Gulf Stream current.
Truth be known, we have been blessed with good weather on recent trips. We were due some bad luck.
Fortunately, it wasn’t a downpour but a sporadic drizzle over the weekend. With umbrellas, Ubers, subways, taxis, museums and indoor restaurants, we still got around and had a great weekend visiting our 24-year-old daughter Ruth.
Our middle child, Lawrence, joined us from Austin, which made it a family affair except for our oldest child, John, who decided to stay in Jackson while one of his Canadian friends visited.
As I've always said, “Vacations are the hard work you do to create memories which you can enjoy forever.” Traveling is logistically and financially stressful. Everything’s different. You are a fish out of water. Your home crib is comforting. Travel is exhausting. But it’s worth the work to have the memories, especially family memories, which bind families together for a lifetime.
Ruth is living the dream in Manhattan. She was a good family soldier to go to Ole Miss on a scholarship, saving the family beaucoup money, even though she lived her entire life in Jackson, Mississippi.
As it turned out, Ruth loved Ole Miss, where she was a marketing and business major. As a Kappa Kappa Gamma, she met girls from all over the country. For saving money and going in-state, I agreed to pay Ruth’s rent for two years after college.
Turns out she got her perfect job in Manhattan, where she is a creative strategist for the booming Ramey Brook women’s fashion line. What does she do? She influences influencers, if you can believe that! Typical of our rapidly changing world, it’s a job that didn't even exist a decade ago. She is living the dream.
She found a perfect apartment on the Lower East Side with three Ole Miss and post-Ole-Miss friends. Like all places in Manhattan, it’s not big, but it’s perfect for four girls out of college. They all get along and are having a blast. Oh, to be young, carefree and in the Big City! Those were the days, my friend.
We stayed for four nights in the Moxy Hotel, one of a limited number of hotels on the Lower East Side. Fortunately, we found a room with a daybed, so Ginny, Lawrence and I could share one room. Hotels are not cheap in Manhattan and, of course, the quarters were tight. It was a funky hotel with a hip, cutting-edge vibe and great common areas, including a rooftop bar and restaurant.
Lawrence, Ginny and I arrived on Thursday, the day before the nor’easter struck. Ruth was due to arrive on Friday from a hiking trip through the Dolomites and the Alps in Europe. What a life!
We walked miles that day, visiting two of the three places I lived while I was in New York—Greenwich Village and Chelsea. I was happy to see a few of my old haunts were still in business, particularly the White Horse Tavern pub on Hudson Street.
Lawrence wanted to walk the “High Line,” which didn't exist when I lived in New York. It was so cool.
The High Line is a 1.5-mile elevated walking trail that used to be a railroad spur. You can still see the railroad tracks as you walk the trail, which is covered with beautiful bushes, flowers, trees and flora, much of which is identified like a botanical garden. What a great tourist attraction.
Wikipedia says, “The High Line's success has inspired cities throughout the United States to redevelop obsolete infrastructure as public space. The park became a tourist attraction and spurred real estate development in adjacent neighborhoods, increasing real-estate values and prices along the route. By September 2014, the park had nearly five million visitors annually, and by 2019, it had eight million visitors per year.”
Lawrence insisted we go to the 9/11 Memorial, just next to the World Financial Center, where I worked for three years. Every morning, I walked from the subway stop through the bottom of the World Trade Center to get to my office on the 34th floor. No doubt I had passed by many of the people whose names are on the memorial. It was a sobering experience.
When I was in New York, it was a big, busy, grungy city. Now it’s more like Paris, elegant and refined. We ate at Ruth’s favorite restaurants on the Lower East Side—Soothr (Thai), Cafe Mogador (Moroccan), Spes (Italian) and Cafe Maude (French).
After a beautiful church service at Grace Church, we joined Ruth’s lifelong Jackson friend Emma Dye at Felix’s for Sunday brunch. The food was delicious, the crowd energized, and we lingered for hours in a this Parisian-like corner sidewalk bistro setting. How perfect that Emma will be living just down the street from Ruth as she starts her new accounting job. Lifelong friends now in Manhattan together. Fun times ahead.
We even got to hear a packed crowd at Downtown Social break out into the Ole Miss Hotty Toddy chant while watching yet another episode of Ole Miss Tragedy Football.
All in all, a wonderful family vacation in a great city. We all got along great. We’re all improving. The memories will last forever.
