I was in New York City. Sounds like a confession, right? It kind of is.

My daughter and I spent a few days together in Manhattan. We stayed between the theater and Times Square districts—a great location for walking to a lot of the hot spots, but also close enough to off Broadway to keep us sane. (Sometimes, the street crossing crowds were so thick I wasn’t sure if my feet were touching the ground!)

We walked about a million miles and took about a million pictures. From Central Park to Battery Park, we toured many a district. We did the Liberty and Ellis Island tours, Ground Zero, MoMA, The Discovery Center (where we saw the Dead Sea Scrolls!), Avenue Q, and we toured NBC studios. We went to a movie (Mirror, Mirror) on the sixth floor of the theater; that’s a LOT of escalator! We were there for the Easter Parade, which is really more of a four block Easter-milling, with crazy-hatted people (and pets) congregating to share smiles and colorful chapeaus.

We had New York Pizza, ate at a New York Deli, breakfasted at a New York diner, braved a falafel truck, and had our best (and cheapest) meal at a Thai restaurant off the beaten path that we later found out was the oldest in the city.

But my THREE most memorable NY 2012 moments were:

ONE – The first night as we were exploring the area on a crowded sidewalk, the couple walking in front of us stopped suddenly to acknowledge a guy coming out of Sardi’s. “Jeff Bridges,” the man-half of the couple said, “Big fan!” and he extended his hand for a shake. The guy, who nearly collided with me due to his hustle and the couple distraction, chuckled and fist bumped him. I immediately texted my husband, almost got run over by jeff bridges! My daughter, 25, asks who is Jeff Bridges? I’m thinking… he was the Dude! The Dude? Yeah, from the Big Lebowski, how do you not know the Dude? Duuuude. Then I say, he was in the remake of True Grit… but I’m thinking, that was NOT the Dude, that was his brother! So all night I’m racking my brain for the brother’s name, not Lloyd, no that’s the dad… then just as I’m falling asleep, I think BEAU! I tell Nicole of the error, and list a few things that he’s been in – he was Earl’s dad, he was on White Collar and Brothers & Sisters… The NEXT morning, on the hotel concierge’s desk, Nicole sees an advertisement for How to Succeed in Business starring Beau Bridges (and Nick Jonas). After that, of course, we see the poster everywhere. So, I almost got run over by Beau Bridges.

TWO – There was a small bar outside the theater where we saw Avenue Q. We heard some music playing, so we ducked in and took a seat to the side of the stage. The performers were a couple of local guys singing and one of them played guitar. They had two very different styles, one was pop-bluesy and the other folksy, both talented. They did a couple of covers, taking turns with lead vocals, and then broke into an acoustic version of Sisqo’s Thong Song. As I’m texting friends to say, OMG they’re playing an acoustic version of the thong song, the singer comes over and leads my daughter to the stage. I look up and think, Oh my god! then Where’s the camera?! Nicole was a good sport, even participated with the chorus, but refused to shake her groove thang (because her mom was in the audience). So, yeah, my daughter performed off-Broadway. A mother can brag.

THREE – If you’ve been to NY, you know that there’s a little bit of everything everywhere. Strip clubs next to TGIFridays, buck a slice pizza joints next to police stations, souvenir shops next to Amish grocery stores, and upscale clubs next to Duane Reade (their Walgreens). So when we’re walking from our nice hotel towards 8^th, past the liquor store and adult content business, and we pass a building called Division of Parole with long dangly lights and a recessed entry next to a parking lot, I ask Nicole if that’s a night club. The next morning we walk by a long line of… well, not exactly night-clubbers.
I had to laugh at my Midwestern naiveté.

Of course I have many more than three memorable moments, but these three seemed unique to our trip.

It was nice to be there, but it’s nice to be home. I also ❤ DeKalb.

“Thong Song”