Illuminating
posted Monday June 8th, 2009
One last mention of the trip to New York, I promise.
As I was leaving the hotel for the final time, the doorman handed me my bag and asked where I was headed.
“Phoenix,” I replied, in a way that did not indicate a great deal of excitement. He got it.
“Oh. I lived there for six years.” He attended a digital recording academy in Tempe, which made sense given his hyper-hipness.
And now, of course, he’s in New York to make it big. Doorman at a cool hotel’s not such a bad place to start.
As I was climbing into the cab, he rubbed his jacket-clad arms (it was that cold last Thursday morning in Manhattan) and said, “Hey, enjoy the heat! If I were you, I’d be in Sedona all summer.”
“Funny you say that,” I answered. “I’ll be there soon.”
And I will. Ray has a campsite reserved and everything. I have promised to not complain about camping. (A promise I’ve come close to keeping.)
I decided to take the exchange with the doorman as a positive sign. So when Ray produced a list of camping supplies this weekend, I headed off to Target cheerfully.
Sunday morning, Annabelle stood gazing at the pile of boxes and turned around, excited.
“Mommy, can we make a smoothie in that new blender?!” she asked.
Sure, sweetie, except it’s a Coleman lantern. I guess camping will be illuminating for all the girls in the house. Sophie’s already packing….
There are worse places to camp. I went out with someone who’s idea of camping was to just drive WHEREVER he ended up and then camp there. It sucked. I still am, ahem, reserved about the whole camping thing. We actually went out and bought a tent a few years ago and a lantern but we’ve never used them yet.
Well, not true, we use the lantern to see the stuff we’ve got stored in the attic. So I guess that’s ok.
PS Talk more about New York!
I love it! My husband is from Wyoming and I have avoided camping for 11 years so far. I may not be able to get out of it this summer – his clan is having a family reunion up in some remote area (like there’s any other kind?) in Wyoming. I may need to borrow that smoothie maker! Heh.
Don’t stop talking about NYC! : )
I can’t wait to hear your family camping stories. I’m seriously very impressed since my family can’t even handle staying in a hotel.
Those little interractions are so funny aren’t they (doorman, Sedona)-where you realize just how small the world is. It’s comforting, really.