Far, Far Away

“Oh my God! Those are the steps where the kids from Glee sang the ‘I Love New York/New York, New York’ mash-up!!!!”

The fact that I said the above on Saturday (perhaps even with the enthusiasm of a teenage girl) tells you that: 1) I was in New York last weekend, and 2) I have been paying way more attention to Heather’s shows than I realized.

I left Los Angeles on Thursday to attend some meetings in New York, and upon taking off, I immediately got a pit in my stomach about leaving Annie. I finally emailed Heather (when I was somewhere over Colorado) and asked, “Is Annie going to forget me by the time I get back?!” Heather replied that Annie wasn’t going to forget me (duh!), and that I could Skype with her when I got to New York.

Soon I was in my room and had Annie on my computer screen. “Dadda!” she yelled. “You far, far away!” (Heather had obviously primed her on my whereabouts). Then, to my delight, Annie and I proceeded to have an actual conversation.

ME: “What did you have for dinner?”

ANNIE: “Mac and Cheese! And ice cream!”

HEATHER: “She didn’t have ice cream. I don’t know why she said that.”

ME: “What else did you do today?”

ANNIE: “I saw baby Molly. And Kayla!”

HEATHER: She’s seeing Molly tomorrow. But not Kayla. I don’t know where she gets this stuff.”

Annie may be a compulsive liar, but she also can have actual conversations on Skype now, and that is awesome. Hopefully she will soon master the more difficult “phone conversation.”

Though it was a work trip I did get out a bit. I saw “Once,” the Broadway adaptation of the Academy Award winning film, and the music and performances were incredible. One neat thing about the show was that the stage was made up to look like an Irish bar, and before the show and at intermission the audience could go onstage and order drinks!

Speaking of Broadway, one crazy thing I learned is that almost every production nowadays is an adaptation of a movie. There is even a musical of “Ghost”!

I also visited Ground Zero which was a powerful experience. What struck me the most was just how large an area it covers. It’s sobering to consider how vast a space of New York was devastated that day. The memorial is beautiful though, and the new buildings being built there are nearly finished.

One of the new buildings at Ground Zero.

Amazingly, on the way out I ran into Heather’s and my friend, Shauna! Shauna is from Texas, but was visiting New York with her daughter. The fact that we both happened to be in New York AND then just happened to run into each other in a city of more than eight million people sort of boggles the mind. I will have to by a lottery ticket.

Of course no business trip is complete without getting a present for the kid. Though the shady dudes on the street would have liked me to buy Annie a knock-off Gucci purse, I instead got her a New York Fire Department teddy bear and toy car set. The kid loves bears and cars, so I can’t go wrong.

“Yes, Annie. I brought you presents.”

I also brought back some of New York’s famous black and white cookies for Heather. When she lived in New York she was so obsessed with these things that I almost researched rehab facilities to see if any treated black and white cookie dependency.

It was a good trip, but I am glad to be home and on the couch with Heather and Rigby. Annie was asleep when I arrived, but I will wake her in the morning with her presents and a big kiss from Dada. I can’t wait.