Tuesday - August 30...On our way!!!

Friends & Family: When they say "Time Flies" they mean it.

All of us with children are constantly told from the moment our little baby arrives,
"Enjoy this time of your life, because before you know it they will be all grown up". And then they grow up.


Bill, Griffy, and I left early Tuesday morning from LA to take our baby (well, that's what I call him - Bill doesn't actually call him that) to Williams College. Griffy's good friend Alex met him at LAX at 7am to say a good-bye...what a good friend! We flew to Chicago and during our 1 hour layover I discovered "Nuts on Clark", a popcorn company that rivals Chicago's famous Garrett's Popcorn. I was hesitant to make a purchase at first, as I am a huge fan of Garrett's and thought I could run around
the airport and find one of its stalls, but I only had an hour, and so I tapped the shoulder of a nearby flight attendant to ask her opinion. She said confidently, "I'm from Chicago, and I think Nuts on Clark is even better!" That's all it took for me to purchase a medium sized carmel (dripping) & cheese (hot) popcorn combo. Suffice it to say, I boarded the connecting flight to Albany feeling quite satisfied. Bill was sitting beside me enjoying his green veggie salad.

In Albany we rented a huge car, as we had 4 suitcases already, and would be making a stop at the nearby Bed & Bath. Oh, and Griffy had shipped by Fex-Ex 5 boxes to The
Williams Inn, of "stuff" he couldn't pack (note I say "HE couldn't pack - he did all his own planning & packing at home - as I scurried around offering my motherly advice and counsel, he kept saying, "It's ok Mom, I know how to pack a suitcase"... just the beginning of me getting the message that he can "do it on his own".)

A side note: Yesterday, Denni from our office reported in that Fed Ex had found one of Griffy's boxes in Charlotte, NC of all places, EMPTY! In other words, somewhere.. somehow.. someone had stolen all the "stuff" from one of his boxes. Luckily that box had easily replaceable items in it, but still... kinda wierd. Has that happened to anyone else?

So upon arrival at Bed & Bath in Albany,
we stocked up on a few items that we couldn't really mail or bring with us. Griffy had his "checklist" and had ordered ahead of time, so it was a quick trip. The lady at the counter was like, "Oh why are your purchasing 2 umbrellas? Do you really need this chair? Is this your first kid to go away?" I mean, MYOB lady! After a quick stop at nearby Friendly's for dinner, we were on our way to Williamstown.

We were diverted several times onto back roads as areas remain flooded from
Hurricane Irene. I am happy to report we arrived safe & sound.

Wednesday - Today He is Officially an Eph-Man!

Williams College registration was at 8am, and I thought we'd amble on in around 9am, after a casual breakfast and a quick look at the newspaper. However,
Billy and Griffy were up and showered and dressed at 7:30am, ready to go! I let them do the registration without me, as I enjoyed a solo eggs & bacon at The Williams Inn, pondering the life-change that was about to come upon me.


Before long we were on our way to the dorms. Griffy is on the 4th floor (walk up) of Armstrong Dorm, which is in the Mission Park Complex. There are 2 dorm quads for freshman, and Mission Park is the newer one WITH the cafeteria located within the building. The dorm room was sooo nice - carpeting and plenty of storage, and 2 nice windows with a view of Greylock Mountain.

My mind drifted back 3 years ago to when I helped Lulu check into her "forced triple" dorm room at Boston College in 100+ degree weather. At the time, we could not find anyone on the floor who knew how to assemble a vacuum cleaner (least of all the 2 of us!). If only Griffy had been there - you should have seen how quickly he hooked up his laptop, put together the chair, the lamp, and even the computer printer! Duly noted, Armstrong dorm has it's own designated new vacuum cleaner, which I tested out several times. Griffy has his own room, as do most of the kids on his floor. In the room next to him is a nice young man all the way from South Korea, and down the hall we met kids from New Orleans, the Bronx, Bedford NY, and Raleigh NC.


We enjoyed a campus wide lunch outside on the lawn in front of the new student center. Afterwards we walked around various tables advertising the local churches, some grocery services, and the school newspaper. The student editor explained to us that their newspaper "The Williams Record" is totally student produced. I proudly shared with him that Griffy had been a photographer for his high school yearbook, and they exchanged emails. Then I said, "Oh I occasionally write for our local newspaper hahahha do you need somone to write a "Dear Abby" type column?" and the editor looked at me blankly. Then I said, "You know...Ann Landers?" Still no response. Then the editor and Griffy both said "Who are you talking about?" Bill nudged me away saying "Dollie, you are dating yourself".

Bill and I headed over to a parent's meeting where the president, various deans, the head of security, and the nurse assured us that our children were in good hands. Then we got the message "Time to go home guys...we take it from here"!!!


So we headed on back to the dorm to say our goodbyes. Oh me oh my...I did not cry like a baby, but I acted like one! It seemed only yesterday that Griffy was at nursery school, clinging to my pants leg and whimpering "Don't leave me mama, don't leave me mama". This time I had to hug him, and then hug him, and then hug him again. It was bittersweet as we headed to the staircase and he hurried down the hall towards the common room where all the students had their first get-together. An hour later he sent us the nicest email thanking us for everything.


Bill and I headed to NYC and stopped on the way at a small local restaurant where I had a delicious meal of comfort food - grilled pork chops and a baked potatoe & gravy - delicious! The GPS lady gave us excellent directions and before you know it we arrived at The Mandarian Oriental where we went to our room, dropped the suitcases, and collapsed. We reflected how lucky we were, and how blessed we are with great friends, a loving family, and our wonderful children. And then we thanked God for each other.

Thursday - Nature & Tennis

We woke up to a glorious morning in NYC. Bill headed off
to the fitness center, and then his NYC office for the morning. I lollied around the dining room having a leisurely breakfast while gazing out the floor to ceiling windows of the Mandarin's restaurant with a view all the way across Central Park to the East side. To the south I looked at the huge CNN red sign blaring away, and to the north I could see the top of the Metropolitan Art Museum. Bill and I met up at noon to take a ride downtown to see the new High Line.





The High Line is a new NYC park, built on top of elevated 1930's freight train track on Manhattan's far West Side. The first section, completed in 2009, begins at Gansevoort and heads up to 20th street. The second section, completed just last June, goes from 20th to 30th street. There are plans in the works to extend it to 34th street. When Bill & I lived in NYC back in the '70's, one would never venture to this side of town, known as the
Meatpacking/Hell's Kitchen district. At that time it was industrial, full of trucks, cobblestone streets, lots of noise, and shall we say... "shady" characters. There was very little nightlife that most people would feel safe participating in. TIMES HAVE CHANGED! This area is hopping with clubs, art galleries, cafes, and boutiques including Scoop, Tori Burch, and Stella McCartney to name just a few. A French Reality show was being filmed, as well as a new TV series called "The Unforgettables" (due out soon on CBS). After we donned our sunglasses to avoid being "discovered" by the paparazzi lurking about, we walked up the flight of stairs to the start of The High Line, 30 feet above the street.



Suddenly you are away from the hustle & bustle of the city life, and are transformed into a park full of wild native grasses, sunflowers in full bloom, and sycamore & oak trees, birds & butterflies. As you join the other people strolling along the wide path above the city streets, you pass by wooden sundecks, stone benches, wooden lounge chairs, a stream, a wide expanse of lawn, and a tunnel full of vendors selling ice cream, coffee, and fruit drinks. There were many areas where people were relaxing reading a book, children skipping about, and couples sharing a kiss! It was really beautiful, and I highly reccommend you visit The High Line on your next trip to NYC.


Afterwards,
we headed back for lunch in an Italian restaurant with a French owner. We know this as our waiter haltingly told us this in his broken English, right after he dropped my water glass which crashed to the floor sprinkling chips into
my bowl of soup! It was his first day, poor fella.

After a rest back at the hotel, we headed off to the 2011 U.S. Open . We arrived a little late, and missed the women's singles where Caroline Wozniacki played (and beat) Arantxa Rus. We found our excellent seats (remember - it's our 25th wedding anniversary!!!) Novak Kjokovic was playing little known Carlos Berlocq, and it looked like a rout (but in the end, Berlocq managed to get 2 games off the champ...much to the spectators delight!). and Bill was "in his element", so excited to be here. The men's singles was just beginning.

I decided to grab a cup of coffee, and wandered out to the concession stands. Alas, plenty of beer and soda, but no coffee. An attendent at the elevator says to me, "I think there's coffee upstairs on the upper level" so up I go 3 floors. No coffee anywhere, but freshly popped popcorn so of course I bought me a big box! I return to the elevator and the guard there says "Due to security you cannot go down this elevator... only up. You have to take the stairs". I'm fine with that, and down I go only to discover that now I am OUT of the stadium...without a ticket (forgot to bring it), cell phone (why would I need that?), or a wallet with ID (I had $2.00 though...)
So I'm standing on the sidewalk and the ticket guy is saying to me "You need a ticket to get in" and I'm like "But I don't have it - my husband has it" and he's like "No ticket - No entry". Meanwhile I'm hearing all the cheering and thinking Bill must be frantic, wondering where I am. Finally I grab a passing security guy to which I proclaim, "Look at me, I'm just a housewife ...I'm not trying to scam you...please take me in and I'll find my husband who will show you my ticket!" He takes pity on me, and up we go to the Club Level where THEN I can't remember where our seats are???? Suddenly in that big stadium under the lights every seat looks the same!! I say to the guy "Oh I'm over here...well no maybe over here...no that's not right..." FINALLY all flustered I locate Billy, who upon seeing me says, "Oh hi honey, being as this is the U.S. Open, will you make an exception and share your popcorn?" Lord have mercy...

Friday - All over NYC...

We awoke to a gorgeous warm morning in NYC! As usual, Billy was up at the crack of dawn in the fitness center running 2,000 miles on the treadmill in preparation for Greece, and I was dreaming away in lala land when the phone started ringing off the hook. Bill was saying "You MUST get out of bed and come downstairs immediately! It's a magnificent day and we are going for a walk in Central Park". I obeyed, and we were off.

The first thing we saw upon entering the park, was a slumped body. We told the nearby policeman that she had better check him out. Next thing we knew, there were sirens and 2 ambulances zooming by. Very sad indeed.


We strolled along making
way for all the joggers, baby strollers, dogs having their morning walk, and people rushing to work when we heard some music in the distance... at 9:00 in the morning. As we turned the corner we saw a big sign for the entrance to "ABC Concert in the Park" series, and who should be performing but Mary J. Blige!! If that doesn't qualify us for "cool" Empty Nesters, I don't know what does! We were high-fiving each other as we grooved to the beat!

Bill was like, "I'm getting us on TV for our 25th anniversary!" and approached the guy who was wielding the HUGE camera which was skimming back and forth in the air. Next thing I know the camera is in our face and he's giving us a "thumbs up" and Bill's giving him a "thumbs up"! Did anyone see us on TV this morning???!!!! George Stephanopolus is soooo short, and unfortunately my favorite anchor Robin Roberts, and the chatty annoyingly cheerful Sam Champion the weatherman were not there today.














After re-grouping from "getting our funk on", we headed back to the hotel to freshen up, then go to meet Lulu who was coming in on the 12:30pm train from Boston. We joined Jim Piereson at the William E Simon Foundation offices and we all went to lunch at a restaurant within the beautiful Grand Central Station. Jim told us how Jackie Kennedy had worked so hard to preserve this masterpiece of architecture when it was headed for demolition, and how she had restorers painstakingly uncover a beautiful art fresco mural on the ceiling that was hidden with grime. I love beautification!!

Then we went over to my adorable and accomplished niece Betsy's apartment on 44th & 2nd.
She had just moved to NYC from Indiana, and started her full time job in the marketing department of Unilever. I was AMAZED with all her really nice Ikea furniture which was assembled by her father (my brother-in-law) Bill. My mind drifted back to when Lulu and I attempted to assemble a dresser for her house at BC this time last year....

A few hours later we all convened at the hotel lounge where now the evening view outside the windows was the bright lights of NYC. We had tickets to see the musical "Book of Morman", winner of 9 Tonys this year including Best Musical. Written by the creators of South Park, we expected something a tad outrageous. As we settled into our seats who was 5 seats to my right
but Teresa!!!! She was in NYC with some girlfriends to watch the tennis! She pointed out to me songwriter Randy Newman
a few seats over. The Palisades was all at the play tonight!!!

I have no words to describe this show - you must see it to believe it. It is irreverent, hilarious, shocking, tasteless, and
touching. If I told you the name of the show's opening number you would be horrified. I have no idea how it will play
outside of NYC, but if you are visiting and have an open mind and a strange sense of humor I'd reccommend you see it.