New York State of Mind XI

Karen woke me at an ungodly hour to go for coffee, stroll through Central Park and get a last piece of cheese cake...it was still dark out.  I'm always game for squeezing in as much vacation as possible.  I walked out half in pyjamas and half in my running gear, my hair looks like a rats nest on top of my head and with sleep still in my eyes.  Karen gave me a once over and I flipped her off, this wasn't a beauty contest we are going for breakfast cheesecake and there is no class in that.

We walked down 7th Avenue; the lights from Times Square lit up like the sun and hurt the eyes.  Starbucks was still closed so we stopped in at a diner and grabbed some coffee for our middle of the night walk through Central Park.  I should have been scared but Karen is far scarier and meaner than anyone that's going to jump out of the bushes.  Every time I walk through the park I see new things and it's becoming like a kinder surprise.   I find myself looking for certain places I have seen in movies or television and pointing buildings out to Karen.  This has been one of my favourite trips to the big apple and I'm looking forward to coming back again and often.  I steered Karen towards an exit because we were nowhere ready to leave for the airport and she still insisted on strawberry cheesecake  for breakfast.  We were the only two in this enormous restaurant except for a man working on his computer so we invited him to eat with us.  I almost fell over when he said he never had the cheesecake...here we were at 6 am in pyjamas stuffing oversized amounts in our mouths like were heading to the electric chair rather than the airport.  Thank god no one is here to witness this display.  I paid the cheque and we walked the couple blocks back to our hotel, the sun was starting to make an appearance and I felt a tinge of sadness knowing I'd be on a flight in the next couple of hours.

I did a swan dive onto the bed and silently hoped that Karen would offer to pack my suitcase or just take the initiative...she didn't.  I finally got motivated to shower, dress, play a game of candy crush and jam everything I owned into my suitcase.  We walked down to the lobby to grab a cab to the airport, I could use a little cheering up and watching Karen deal with cab drivers is always good for a laugh.  She's aggressive before she even opens the door and I like to play into that hand.  After checking in and making our way through security we sat at our gate and people watched for about an hour.  I felt relaxed and ready to head home, I knew I'd be back and I was pretty excited that Mike is coming to Chicago.  I could hardly wait to see Dan and fill him in on my trip, I wish I could be better for him...I'm working on it and finally feel like I'm at least heading in the right direction.  This is solely based on the fact that I feel comfortable and like I belong somewhere.  We boarded the plane and I handed Karen my headphones, I preferred to collect my thoughts theses days and plan out my next move...it was like constantly planning a vacation and I loved it.  My life was becoming a little more of my own and it made me feel a little less empty...