So my Mom just left and we're already back to the 'schwing' of things. Two are at school, one is home sick, and the laundry proliferates despite my constant attempt to finish it. Did she really just leave yesterday! Geez.
We had the best time; it was my favorite visit with her. Thankfully, she brought the sunshine from California, so the weather was amazing, down right hot at times (ahhhh). Everywhere we looked was a bloom-fest of tulips, dogwoods, cherry trees, and more - it was gorgeous and a really special time of year! She jumped right into our 'pace' and never missed a beat. Although, I did catch her nodding off at karate, but that was after a trip to NY and our 1-Martini lunch (I was tired too!). We hit No-Joe's Cafe in Red Bank (my new favorite spot), Barnacle Bill's for bulk food and video games (the kids favorite), sauntered through Sickles Market, walked the kids to school then walked around our neighborhood, cooked and washed (and washed and washed), drove to Camden, NJ to see Andrew row in his first Regatta (wow!), took the ferry to NY (we actually had to run to try to catch the ferry, but missed it by 30 seconds, had a lovely breakfast in Atlantic Highlands and did the crossword puzzle instead), experienced Ground Zero together (read mor below). Walked the boardwalk at Asbury Park, the beach club (Surfrider) at Sea Bright, am I missing anything? We crammed a lot into a week - it was awesome.
Ground Zero. When 9/11 happened, I was pregnant with Alexander (on bedrest). Andrew was supposed to go to the movies with Josh LaPoll and Thomas was at work. It was tragic and sad, and we were so insulated. Since moving here to NJ, almost everyone I've met was personally touched by 9/11. Fathers, friends, relatives lost - it is still present here. At the site, there's not much to see, mostly construction equipment, but it's the biggest hole in the earth I've seen next to Haleakala. And the feeling is intense. There's a 9/11 museum, but we didn't want to experience something packaged. St. Paul's Chapel hit us both so profoundly. (Click the highlighted link to read more.) Suffice it to say, the shots we saw on TV of fences covered in pictures and banners and flowers surrounded St. Paul's Chapel, which is directly across the street from the fallen Towers. It's astounding that it is still standing - makes you wonder...
Leaving St. Paul's, we saw some really beautiful buildings and garden. I guess we looked confused or curious because a man stopped to ask if we needed directions. He had lived in Cupertino many years back, almost bought a house in LAH for $85,000 (what year was that?), had worked for Deutsche Bank (one of the buildings badly damaged on 9/11). He had fortuitously (or otherwise) decided to stop for a coffee that morning, a block east of his office. The first plane hit while he was getting his coffee, he thought a gas main had broken. He told us about running from the fiery ash, the force of the blast, the people jumping from the buildings, how many people he lost in his group, the grateful and guilt-ridden aftermath of his co-workers who survived. His wife had worked for the EPA, and she had to sift through what he called 'fresh kill sites' to help identify missing people. And that one of the ways to determine who had been killed was by watching the parking lots at transit stations. If a car remained there for more than a few days, it was assumed that person was missing and possible dead. And the parking lot attendant who burst into tears when he saw a woman he regonized walking to her parked car; grateful she was alive. He pointed out the charred and blackend buildings on Fulton Street, where the blast catapulted people and pieces toward Brooklyn. How and why this man crossed our path at this point in time - I don't know; his name was Mike. He told us about a restaurant a few blocks down on the way back to our ferry. We thought it only fitting to honor his suggestion, so we walked to Stella and had a martini for lunch. It was a very emotional outing.
And I'm not sure why I wanted to share all of this, maybe just to remind you (and myself) that there are people who will never forget, and that their lives were forever changed.
xoxo,
P
We had the best time; it was my favorite visit with her. Thankfully, she brought the sunshine from California, so the weather was amazing, down right hot at times (ahhhh). Everywhere we looked was a bloom-fest of tulips, dogwoods, cherry trees, and more - it was gorgeous and a really special time of year! She jumped right into our 'pace' and never missed a beat. Although, I did catch her nodding off at karate, but that was after a trip to NY and our 1-Martini lunch (I was tired too!). We hit No-Joe's Cafe in Red Bank (my new favorite spot), Barnacle Bill's for bulk food and video games (the kids favorite), sauntered through Sickles Market, walked the kids to school then walked around our neighborhood, cooked and washed (and washed and washed), drove to Camden, NJ to see Andrew row in his first Regatta (wow!), took the ferry to NY (we actually had to run to try to catch the ferry, but missed it by 30 seconds, had a lovely breakfast in Atlantic Highlands and did the crossword puzzle instead), experienced Ground Zero together (read mor below). Walked the boardwalk at Asbury Park, the beach club (Surfrider) at Sea Bright, am I missing anything? We crammed a lot into a week - it was awesome.
Ground Zero. When 9/11 happened, I was pregnant with Alexander (on bedrest). Andrew was supposed to go to the movies with Josh LaPoll and Thomas was at work. It was tragic and sad, and we were so insulated. Since moving here to NJ, almost everyone I've met was personally touched by 9/11. Fathers, friends, relatives lost - it is still present here. At the site, there's not much to see, mostly construction equipment, but it's the biggest hole in the earth I've seen next to Haleakala. And the feeling is intense. There's a 9/11 museum, but we didn't want to experience something packaged. St. Paul's Chapel hit us both so profoundly. (Click the highlighted link to read more.) Suffice it to say, the shots we saw on TV of fences covered in pictures and banners and flowers surrounded St. Paul's Chapel, which is directly across the street from the fallen Towers. It's astounding that it is still standing - makes you wonder...
Leaving St. Paul's, we saw some really beautiful buildings and garden. I guess we looked confused or curious because a man stopped to ask if we needed directions. He had lived in Cupertino many years back, almost bought a house in LAH for $85,000 (what year was that?), had worked for Deutsche Bank (one of the buildings badly damaged on 9/11). He had fortuitously (or otherwise) decided to stop for a coffee that morning, a block east of his office. The first plane hit while he was getting his coffee, he thought a gas main had broken. He told us about running from the fiery ash, the force of the blast, the people jumping from the buildings, how many people he lost in his group, the grateful and guilt-ridden aftermath of his co-workers who survived. His wife had worked for the EPA, and she had to sift through what he called 'fresh kill sites' to help identify missing people. And that one of the ways to determine who had been killed was by watching the parking lots at transit stations. If a car remained there for more than a few days, it was assumed that person was missing and possible dead. And the parking lot attendant who burst into tears when he saw a woman he regonized walking to her parked car; grateful she was alive. He pointed out the charred and blackend buildings on Fulton Street, where the blast catapulted people and pieces toward Brooklyn. How and why this man crossed our path at this point in time - I don't know; his name was Mike. He told us about a restaurant a few blocks down on the way back to our ferry. We thought it only fitting to honor his suggestion, so we walked to Stella and had a martini for lunch. It was a very emotional outing.
And I'm not sure why I wanted to share all of this, maybe just to remind you (and myself) that there are people who will never forget, and that their lives were forever changed.
xoxo,
P
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