I ended the great month of March by visiting with more people from Bakersfield. Teresa, one of the Bakersfield crew, came to New York with her sister-in-law, niece, and nephew. Her niece is soon graduating from college and contemplating working and living either in New York City or Boston. Both are wonderful choices in my opinion. This group stayed at the Sixty Hotel in SoHo and Teresa invited me there to have drinks with them on Friday afternoon. It was another beautiful day, and the Hotel was only one and a half miles away, so I walked the 40 minutes. I know I keep saying this, but it is so liberating to be able to get to a destination without relying on a car. The Sixty is a boutique hotel with a restaurant, a bar, and a rooftop bar. We met in the lobby at around 4 p.m., where bottles of champagne were on ice for their guests. Sipping on the bubbly, Teresa and I caught up on the latest Basque news. One by one, different people entered the conversation, including her sister-in-law Chris, and her niece and nephew. When the bar was open, we went in there to continue the conversation with her niece.
I have always appreciated spending time with younger people. Why? It’s their youth. This is a line from the movie “Moonstruck;” the movie was popular in the 1980s, and it starred Cher and Nicholas Cage. That line says it all. Youth have no fear. They are sitting on top of the world and are ready for anything. There is nothing more exciting to me than to see this. I feel bad for the youth who don’t even realize their power. You know, people like me at least the “me” of yesteryear. Fortunately, I was given the gift of time to be able to experience this particular year in my life.
Teresa and her sister-in-law went on to a show, and after a lengthy conversation with Teresa’s niece, I realized it was time for me to leave. I looked for a cab, started walking, continued to look for a cab, and then kept walking… and before I knew it, I was home. The sun was down by the time I got home, and although I make it a habit NOT to walk at nighttime, I felt no trepidation, no fear. It was so wonderful to have walked to my rendezvous and back home again.