Adventures in London: Issue 31

This week started in NYC (actually it started in West Virginia, but I already covered that last week). Like my past 2 trips to NYC, the trip was bittersweet. My favorite and least favorite part about going home is seeing my nephew. He has a smile, a laugh, and a touch that can melt the iciest of hearts. He is turning into such a gem of a man. I thought that I was picking the right time to go to London - figured I would be back when he was 4 and things would be okay. What could I possibly miss from years 1-4? Apparently all the magic. These are precious years where he starts becoming his own person. When he starts to forge relationships, communicate with people in his language and in ours. This is when he discovers what foods he likes and dislikes. This is his beginning of discovering the world, and I am missing it. But to be fair and honest, how much would I have seen if I lived in NYC? Would I have seen him every week (well almost every week)? Probably not. The truth is, when I lived in NYC I was too engrossed in living my own life that I did not focus spending time with my family. If nothing else, moving away has given me that one bit of clarity. 

Perhaps if I did spend more time at 10 Park, I would have realized just how very similar my brother and I are. For the 4 1/2 years that I lived in NYC, I was too stuck on how we nothing in common. We shared the same last name and genes, but I was the jeans wearing media chic and he was the suit wearing investment banker. When I was home, him and I were able to spend some time together during which I realized that we actually had so many things in common; the color coding of our closets, the layout of our drawers, our reading cycles (educational - fiction - hobby - repeat), our love for chili (dammit!! that is what I forgot to buy when I was home), and the fact that we both store our pens between the 2nd and 3rd button of our shirts.  If you promise not to tell him, I will tell you a secret, ever since I was a kid I wanted to be like my big brother - make people laugh like he did, dance like he did, run as fast as he did. We are very different people, but I am glad that we are also very much the same. We will always be our own people and I am sure we will continue to quarrel, but at the end of it all - he is my brother. 

Immediately after getting back from NYC, I had family friends from Long Island in town for the weekend. It was such a pleasure to spend time with them. Normally when we have the chance to see each other it is for a family gathering, so this was the first time that we had the opportunity spend some quality time together. I am so pleased that we did. A, I am so happy that you came and THANK YOU for everything that weekend (especially for introducing to UFC)! Yes you heard that right. I went to my first UFC fight and I definitely got into it. In fact, I am planning on throwing a party on 19 April for the next UFC fight showing at a reasonable time here. I also learned this past weekend that finding a restaurant that is serving after 11:00p is a nightmare, that the uncensored MTV shows are much better, that if you go to a restaurant that specializes in Argentinean beef don't order gnocchi, that pudding is a term for dessert, and a few other things that I should probably not share on this blog as family is reading :-)

On that note, I am off to fold socks and go to bed. Only 2 more sleeps until my ski trip to Austria. Cannot recall the last time I went on a 10 day holiday...probably dates back to Nisky days (that is just sad). It is going to be brutally cold, but I am looking forward to a week of saunas,  snowboarding (yes I am thinking of taking lessons), relaxing, snowshoeing, reading, x-c skiing, and recharging. 

Speak to you all in 2 weeks! Try not to miss me next weekend ;-) Feel free to write anyway...

xoxo

T