A Return to September 11, 2001

I was in San Antonio getting ready to attend a funeral, ironically enough. Little did I know that our entire nation was on the verge of experiencing a grief unlike any we'd ever known before. As my Mom and I were getting ourselves ready for the day, we were watching Good Morning America when they reported an airplane crashing into one of the towers of the World Trade Center. An accident, I thought. But when the second plane crashed, I thought it must be an act of terrorism. Soon, more news of an airplane crashing into the Pentagon. And finally, news of an airplane that went down in a field in Pennsylvania.

I was worried we'd spend the entire day wondering which city would be next.

It didn't take long for the news agencies to announce that America was under attack.

I had moved back to Texas from New York City just two years before the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. I still had a lot of friends living there, and as I flipped through the rolodex in my brain of all my friends who might have worked in the twin towers, I couldn't think of any one. As it turned out, I had two friends who worked there. One of them was working in the New Jersey office that day, and my other friend had a doctor appointment that day, so she didn't go into work. Miracles worth counting on a day when so much was just so terrible.

Late in the day, it dawned on me that my former boss, "J", worked near the WTC, and I got all teary-eyed at the thought of the possibility that he might be gone. I called him for days and never heard anything back. Finally one day my phone rang and it was him...alive and well. Phone lines had been down in New York City, and it took him and his wife several days to get back to their rural home outside the city to get my message and call me back. He worked across the street from the WTC in the World Financial Center. He felt his building shake when the first plane hit. He went outside to see what was going on, and when he saw people jumping from the towers, he had to turn around and just walk away. He walked and walked all the way home (which was no short distance).

One of the strange feelings I had in the days following September 11th was the distinct feeling that I wanted to be back in New York. I wanted to be there to grieve with my former city. It took me two years, though, before I made it back to NYC, and I was there on the two year anniversary of September 11. I went with my friend to Ground Zero and saw people reading bios of those who perished in that very place two years before.

It was all so much to process. I walked to the nearest pay phone and called "J" at work. I got his voice mail. I just wanted to tell him that I was thinking of him because he was the person I was so worried about that day two years ago. As I began talking on his voicemail, I started to cry, and I was so embarrassed because I couldn't pull myself together. Finally, two years after the attacks on the WTC, I was grieving. Several months later, "J" called me and told me that he was out of the country when I called, but he wanted me to know that he so appreciated my message. I was so relieved because I thought maybe my tearful message was too much for him. He assured me that he didn't mind my tears at all. In fact, he said he saved the message and replayed it when he was having a bad day.

I call him every year on September 11th, just to tell him that I'm so glad he's my friend, and I'm so glad he's alive.

I Heart NY

At the end of May, Hubs and I took a vacation to the Big Apple! 

We went to the top of the Empire State Building, like proper tourists...

We rode the Staten Island Ferry to see Lady Liberty (and ate yummy hotdogs while on board).

We saw this show on Broadway, which was silly fun.

And we saw Broadway legend Patty LuPone in this FABULOUS show!  If you have the opportunity to see this production of Gypsy before Patty leaves the cast, I implore you to GO SEE THIS SHOW! Patty LuPone was born to play this part, and she does it wonderfully! 

Then the real fun began!  Our reason for going to New York was to attend the 10-year class reunion of my acting school. About 14 of us showed up, and had a ball! People flew in from England, Sweden, France and all over the US for this, so it was so amazing to be together again!

It was fun to introduce Hubs to a chapter of my life for which I have endless nostalgia.

These are my girls!  
Your kids might recognize my friend Donovan Patton as "Joe" from Nickelodeon's "Blue's Clues"!Of course, we crazy theatre people had to be a little artsy with our photo opps!

Bars and Parties: Defined

As a recovering packrat, I have been sorting through my boxes of Things Saved from the Nineties. In doing so, I came accross a piece of paper with the following definitions...

Bars - Places people go who don't know one another, but pretend to be old friends.

Parties - Places where friends of friends go to become more than friends.

I can only imagine that I came up with these definitions in New York City during my first year or two as a single woman, living on my own, just trying to make sense of the world aournd me. I think my definitions hold at least a kernel of truth!

Thirteen Things I Remember About Living in NYC

1. Living in an apartment that was actually a room the size of a shoebox.

2. Feeling a little smug that I lived on Gramercy Park even though my apartment was actually a room the size of a shoebox.

3. Coming alive in acting school at The Neighborhood Playhouse.

4. My lunches at Tal Bagel, an authentic Israeli-run bagel store, where the employees spoke Hebrew to one another. My favorite meal was an everything bagel with lentil soup. Mmmm. Perfect on a cold winter's day.

5. Being in excellent shape from all of the walking I did, along with ballet and a modern dance/yoga combo class I was in.

6. Going dancing at LIFE and meeting a soap star who was on Another World. He was really nice in person!

7. Incredible friendships made with women from all over the world!

8. Standing atop the Empire State Building on the 4th of July as my Jewish friend, Jordan, told me what the true meaning of the Yiddish word "schmuck" was. There was a group of adolescent Orthodox Jewish boys standing around us snickering, thinking he was one funny guy. I also learned the words "schmendrick" and "shmeggege" that night--both having similar meanings.

9. Being told "You're very friendly...that frightens me" by a very grumpy woman in an elevator.

10. Admiring Van Gogh's "The Starry Night" at the MoMA.

11. Rollerblading in Central Park, in Union Square, and on the Hudson River Boardwalk.

12. Singing showtunes at the top of my lungs as subways would roll into the station. They were so loud that no one could hear me over their rumble. It was my way of having a personal moment in public. Kinda fun!

13. Being very aware that I was living my dreams and feeling grateful for it!