A scene from St. Elmo's fire comes to mind when Wendy (Mare Winningham) says to Billy (Rob Lowe) - her emotional nemesis up to that point in the movie. "Last night I went into the kitchen and made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and it was my kitchen and my peanut butter and jelly and it was the BEST peanut butter and jelly sandwich I've ever had."That said, I went grocery shopping at home in NYC. Yes grocery shopping (filled up a big old 24" suitcase), now before you roll your eyeballs at the sheer lunacy (would you expect anything less than that from me??) of it all, there are just certain things you can't get here! I don't eat peanut butter often, but when I do like tonite (I'm exhausted from traveling), I want my Skippy!
I haven't posted in quite some time. I've been back in the States for business and fun. Was in Chicago for about a week at a major medical (oncology) meeting. We announced quite a bit of data and I ran around like a headless chicken (ok and had a little fun at night after all it's Chi-town!) for most of the week. Was able to get some shopping in. I thought for sure that it would be around 100 degrees each day because that's what it's usually like whenever I'm there, but it was really only the first day. The rest were reasonable (although bogged down in allergies), and most afternoons we got a bout of rain, but otherwise absolutely a city I could see myself living in one day down the road. The architecture is amazing and they've even built lofts and brownstones near the congress center. And if I continue in this position down the road, I will go back to Chicago for ASCO for the next several years since they made a deal with the convention center!
When I landed in Chicago I immediately got out my trusty old U.S.-based Verizon (that doesn't work overseas) mobile phone and started text messaging friends. Sent messages to all of the important people in my life and everyone reacted so funny. People were so confused at getting a text message from my 301 phone.
But what I was truly excited about was going home to NYC. It didn't matter that I was up until 3.30 a.m. with friends at work partying leading up to my flight, I made the 9.30 from Chicago to LGA with bells on. I never ask for a window seat, but I did for this trip and when we circled the City I think my heart skipped a beat. I didn't realize just how much I missed home. Momentary hiccup in finding car service since there is ZERO organization at LGA! There were buses picking up full tour groups taking up all lanes and not allowing any cabs, cars, or limos out of the airport!
Driving into the City I just felt "right". Not sure how to articulate it, but just "right". I felt "right", I was home. You can all blame a close friend that lives in Germany for my text message addiction. He got me started on it about five years ago. Another friend calls me a little Japanese school girl since they all do it over there. As a matter of fact the U.S. is the last bastion of antiquated mobile phone users.
Did exactly what I wanted for the afternoon. Watched Sopranos on demand and then went out for sushi (my favorite Japonica in the East Village) with my parents. God it was good! The rest of the week was followed by shopping, more family, friends, movies, and spending time with special people in my life. I can't imagine having moved to Europe 20 or 30 years ago because people were truly cut off from their family, friends, home life etc., although the Internet is fantastic and makes life livable, it doesn't take the place of face-to-face contact.
With the exception of any last minute long weekend trips in Europe, it looks like I'll be staying put until towards the end of August when I'll come home again (and then again around Thanksgiving for my (gulp) 20-year high school reunion!). But I'm also aiming to move for August 1 so it won't be dull by any means. BUT I would love to have visitors. And yes you can come back again for skiing / boarding in the winter! It will be good to put some kind of routine into place and I start Pilates on Tuesday which I'm very excited about!
This trip home really cemented for me that I actually live in Europe. I've wanted to do this for so long and sometimes it seems very surreal. It's like how do you know you want to do something that you've never done before?
I accomplished a huge goal, like graduating from college, starting a business...something along those lines. It took going home to NYC for me to realize how huge this adventure really is, which seems weird, but as long as it remains an adventure or someone gives me a reason to come back, this is where I will remain at least until next August around the time my first lease runs out.
Thanks, as always, for stopping by!
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