Day 1: People people people – New York City

So, here I am in one of the busiest cities in the world. There are literally so many people, all kinds of people……. rich, poor, black, white, American, Australian, French, Brazilian, German, fast, slow, drunk, high, tired, wired, stressed and laid back.

People, people, people.

Even just driving from the airport to the hotel was the most eye opening experience, the things I saw, the people I saw. I literally wanted to cry. This is the one trip I have waited a long long time to do. It was meant to be on the way home from the UK when I lived there, but kids and jobs prevented that. However, good things come to those who wait. Patiently.

I saw….. NYC city lights for the first time, the Chrysler building, Empire State Building, Central Park, Times Square, cute American homes, apartment buildings, a random man dancing in the street(it was hysterical, the kids eyes were popping out of their heads!) a homeless man in the tube station entrance, horse drawn carts, the transfer driver muttering about traffic ( the likes of which I have never seen), baseball on the radio and all I could think was WOW, I know nothing!

There is a big wide world out there and people of all kinds, my imagination was not even capable of conjuring the things we saw in barely an hour.

So, have I felt stressed? The answer is yes, but only a little…….. my triggers have been a brief daughter tantrum ( on the whole both kids have been great), a problem with tickets to the NewYork Yankees (sometimes the electronic age is a bloody pain in the arse, go back to a ticket being a piece of paper please!!! We spent $500 and can not get evidence of a ticket that is in the electronic black hole). I think this is a normal reaction though. Most would be pissed off with this situation ( by the way I was not the most stressed person in the family over this!!) In the end, a refund was the only option. Now we are winging it and going anyway, who knows what tickets we might get.

Anyway, all I have felt in the last 24 hours is lucky. Lucky to be alive, lucky to be here and lucky to have what I have because so many people have a dam sight less than I do.

SAA