I Heart NYC!

Way back in the spring, J and I decided we would be in so much pain and agony with a new empty nest, that we would need to distract ourselves and go to NYC. We have been to NYC before, but never just the two of us. J picked up chic hotel on the upper east side, we picked a date and we were set.

On Friday we flew on the bano row (row 31, super 80). This row has the same view whether you are over mountains or a beach. You get to look at an engine. As long as no one gets really sick in the bathroom right behind you, it's really not that bad. We should know, we get it a lot.

The jettybetty family has several travel principles. One is, if you rent an intermediate sized car and all 5 of us go on the trip, they will only have a 2 door Neon available, too bad. If any group of just 2 of us go somewhere, we get a minivan, too bad. I would now like to apply this rule to a hotel. All 5 of us have gone to NYC 3 times. We were all in one hotel room. We checked into our room this trip, just the 2 of us, and got this huge suite. The walk in closet was so big, we would have declared S to have his own "room" if he had been along. We enjoyed the treat of the suite so much. It was pretty hard to leave it to get out and enjoy the city!

The wonderul part about NYC is no matter how many times we go, there are always things left to do that we have never tried before. This trip we rode the double decker busses around town. No one sits on the bottom of the double decker busses, so they should just call them really tall busses. Also, just because you buy a ticket doesn't mean you get to sit on a bus. We did the night tour on Friday night and I did love that one. The day time tours were slow, so we rode the bus so far and rode the subway back to the hotel. The traffic was just insane.

We also had our first off Broadway experience. We went to see "Menopause the Musical". It was a quite memorable experience for J since only 3 other men were in the audience. We had not clued in on the fact this is a girlfriend bonding experience kind of show. I would describe the show as a Theta Theta Theta spring sing performance on steroids, with 2 songs Bob Lashley should never ever let into spring sing. This show will never be on Broadway. It takes songs from the 60's and 70'; puts new words to them and they are mostly hilarious. Because of the 2 songs, I hesitate to recommend it.

Last night as we walked through the neighborhood to our hotel, (our tour guide told us that this zip code was the most expensive in the US) there were Jews going to synagogue in fairly large numbers. Even Christian churches are used on Saturday evening. As a sad sign of our times, you had to get "wanded" to go inside. Even sadder for me is the Jewish people. I just don't get why they can't see Jesus. I feel pretty certain it has to do with their heritage, and that will be another blog.

Today, same bano row seats, 31 E and F. We got back today in time to see S, on his first trip "home" from college. Meg joined us for lunch, so it was quite a happy family event.

I do love NYC.

Meg, Anniversaries and Football

Meg spent the night last night and it was quite a treat. Since she's moved only 30 minutes away, she rarely spends the night here. Meg is an amazing young lady. She decided when she was about 2 that she wanted to be a teacher, and she hasn't changed her mind yet. She loves children. She's had more obstacles in her life than many people triple her age have had. However, she has learned that God is bigger than any obstacle. Her faith is strong there' nothing He can't handle. Lord willing, she will be a teacher very soon!

Exactly 30 years ago today, I went to breakfast in the OCC cafeteria with my roomie Nancy, and sat across from a handsome business major from Kansas. It was the start of a love story. The story does continue. A really unique part of this is our parents had the same wedding anniversary--J's parents were married 4 years ahead of mine, also on this day--Sept. 19.

This will be perhaps my only blog that contains anything about football, because I don't know all that much about the sport. UNT was defeated by Colorado yesterday, but it was a David-Goliath competition and it would have made headlines only if it were the other way around. Meg did have some impressive football news last night anyway. Her landlord told her the very room she is living in now was rented at different times by two Philadelphia Eagles during their off season. I did confirm that the Philadelphia Eagles were a football team and not baseball or hockey or something. If only the walls could talk.

The Vols did win yesterday, but IMHO they made it way toooo exciting. They kicked a field goal with seconds remaining to win by 2. If they are going to win a big one, I think they prefer to beat FL. The interesting thing about the U of TN is they were rated #1 by Sports Illustrated for best college football weekend,(article). Now, Mer would much rather tell you the rankings of the graduate college there, and in specific the history program, so she's at a school that wins some sport recognition! On her behalf, I will mention her academics programs rank really high, too. I suppose she can have it all!

The Aggies won last night, too. S had another way to express it, but they won. They played Clemson, and S probably cared more because one of his least fav teachers in HS went to Clemson and now he can wear his Aggie shirt up to the HS some time and have a nice conversation with the man. They came in #3 in the same poll U of TN won, but it seems they did get the highest rating for student spirit. Of course, I love the Aggie logic here. Aggies NEVER loose, they just run out of time some of the time and sometimes they don't score enough points. So, using that logic UNT really didn't loose yesterday, they ran out of time. And none of "my" teams will ever loose.

So that's more than enough about football.

"Boundless love, unending joy,
This is my life, it's what I know.
I can't believe, that he selected me.
Jesus, my Lord
It's you I love."

These are a few of my favorite places to fly

When I got off work last Thursday, I went to Houston. Going to Houston really is working for me. I get to spend some extra time with J, and I get to relax. You will have to consult J's blog to find out what he thinks of this. On Friday, we found out one of J's uncles passed away. J really wanted to go be with his aunt and cousins, so on Saturday we went to Springfield, MO. I think his aunt was very pleased we made it up and J and I were thankful we made the effort. On Sunday, we went back to Houston.

On Monday, I went to another of my very favorite places, Knoxville, TN. Just a little over a year ago, before the ink was dry on her OC diploma, Mer packed most everything she owned into a 96 stationwagon (B0b) she inherited from her Grandfather Martin and moved to Knoxville where she knew exactly zero people. We believed that was where God was leading her, so in a case like that, you fill Bob up and point him east. It's easy to see God had a plan for her there. On Tuesday, we went to the soup kitchen in downtown Knoxville to serve a delish lunch some nice ladies from Laurel Rd church fixed. We had some time to walk along the TN river and had a great visit. I don't think Mer is moving back to TX anytime soon, she loves TN. So, I think Knoxville will be one of my favorite places to fly for a long time.

Since I hadn't seen S for a record long time, I just flew through to see him yesterday in CS. I am pretty sure that S has had some conversations with God as to how he ended up at A&M, but he has embraced the Aggie life and I see God giving him great wisdom in the decisions he is making. I doubt he ever practices every Aggie tradition, does anyone even know every Aggie tradion? I can tell he has made the jump, however, he is an Aggie. He stood up the whole football game last weekend and will this weekend. He's making friends and even tells me he's studying. It was a great hour and a half.

So, no telling how many calories I have consumed eating Fisher's cheese snack mix and drinking orange juice. I am pretty sure I do have jet fuel in my blood. Now I get to work for a week, and I love that, too.