You see, on Sunday night/Monday morning, I only got about 5 hours of sleep (plus about another hour on the flight), which was followed by a full day of work. Then, Monday night (last night), I couldn't fall asleep. I was up until after midnight. Which would have been fine if not for the serious sleep deficit. My alarm got me up by 7 this morning, so in the past 48 hours, I've slept for about 13 of them. Oddly enough, I'm not totally wiped out. Hopefully I won't be up for another 2 or 3 hours tonight, though.
But enough about all that. What I really want to talk about is the first evening that Christopher and I were in New York.
As you probably already know (if you've been paying attention), we didn't get to New York until Friday afternoon. By the time we had dropped our bags at Colleen's and run out to do some grocery shopping (for a party we were co-hosting on Saturday night), it was almost 5 o'clock. Colleen met up with us at her place, and we told her of the dinner plans we had made (having rescheduled the lunch plans we missed due to our flight change), and about 6 the three of us headed out to go into Hell's Kitchen (it's a neighborhood that's along 9th Avenue where, I believe, the streets are in the mid-40s -- but don't quote me). We met up with another friend -- whom for the sake of this blog we shall refer to as Tiz -- down there, and the four of us headed to a restaurant/diner called Vynl for dinner.
** Timeline Sidenote ** Let me be a little more specific about the friendship timelines: I've known Colleen for about... ummm... 15 or 16 years (we met through her older sister). Tiz and I met when I was working in Baltimore about 8 years ago. Christopher and I have been together for about 4 1/2 years. And the three of them all first met a little less than 2 years ago on our last trip to NYC. ** End Timeline Sidenote **
It took a little while for a table, but we didn't really notice because we were all talking and getting caught up. Our waiter was great -- very friendly and just attentive enough without being annoying -- and the food was pretty darned good. (I definitely recommend the place!) But the focus of the evening was the conversation.
Wait. That's not right. The focus wasn't the conversation. The focus was simply the four of us being together.
We talked about jobs and lives. We talked about food and travel. We talked about the internet and we talked about the weather. But, overall, the conversation was simply a way to be able to look at each other and say "I'm glad you're here."
I am lucky enough to have a lot of really good friends in my life. And it is times like last Friday night, hugging hello on the street, sitting in a diner, talking about the mosaics in the bathrooms, truly feeling like a part of a bigger whole, that make my life worthwhile.
The trip was really short (don't worry -- I'll tell more stories, soon), but spending that time together will forever mark it as one of the best nights I've ever spent in New York.
** Looking-for-sympathy Endnote ** As you may remember, Christopher is still in NYC until the end of the week. I was too tired to truly miss him last night. Tonight... well... Let's just say that the countdown to Saturday night has begun. ** End Looking-for-sympathy Endnote **
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