Sunday Panic...and my last day...

*****Most of these pictures are stock footage I got off the net. Explanation below.*****




When last we met, I had misplaced my camera and was in the middle of panic mode. I searched my pockets in my jacket, dumped my bag, gone down to the Metro Diner to check there, hurried to Julio and begged him to let me into the storage room to search my luggage. No camera. I was devastated! I was going to film today. I was going to have video and audio recording of my friends and of the days activities. It was almost time for my friends to get there. How could I lose my camera? Hopefully I had just put it in a safe spot and find it later. But how to record the memories of today. My phone. My camera phone. It takes decent enough pictures. Yeah, but what about the pictures I had already taken of the vacation? All those pictures were now gone. It is a $200 camera with 2 days of vacation pictures and memories. Oh, crap! Ok, gotta move on. Friends will be here any minute. Gotta go outside and wait for them...... Here they come.

"Hi, I lost my camera." says I.

"Oh no", says one.
"You sure you lost it?" Says another.
"Yeah, it's gone." I answer back....at least for today. Let's go.

"You take pictures today and we'll see about sharing those." OK. that's a plan.




On we go to meet another friend to walk the Brooklyn Bridge. That was an experience in itself. We took the subway to Brooklyn. Gorgeous part of New York. I see the Cosby Show in my head as we walk the streets of the neighborhoods on a clear and brisk Sunday morning. When the sun was out, it was warm, when it went behind a cloud, it was cold. I took my jacket off and on at least 5 times that day. We take a group shot on the look out over the Hudson River just before we walk the bridge. Lena on one side, Kate on the other, Stef there too. Awesome morning and an awful feeling of dread that I have to go home in less than 5 hours. Oh, the horror of it all. My stomach is in knots the closer time gets to go. Feel like I have to throw up. I don't want to go, I want to stay.....why can't I stay????? Family, work, all the stuff that is my life. I look at my friends. I want to create a permanent memory that won't fade. Memorize voices, facial expressions, oh it was so sad.....




I got this from Kate tonight. Awesome picture. We all look awesome! Even if I do say so myself....lol




The Brooklyn Bridge is huge and beautiful!



You'd think that crossing it would be super long but in reality it is only a mile long. We strolled through it. It was about a 40 minute walk. We talked, took pictures, looked at the view. I am amazed at the sheer immensity of the bridge and all the people who walk, jog, and stroll on it.



Traffic goes on as always. we are suspended on the pedestrian bridge above the traffic. An amazing sight!!!!

After that was done, I found out that we were near Ground Zero, where I had been the day before. Stef was our guide and led us through streets and buildings I had not seen the day before so I was excited to see new things. Wall Street and the Financial District made me feel at home and totally in my element. I love having a career with money!







The Inside of the World Financial Center is a spectacular sight. We sat and talked a while. Palm trees in the middle of a building was cool to see.












Another street we walked down. The memories that come back are so vivid.





My last meal (drink) in New York City! I was too tied up in knots to eat so I watched everyone else eat. It was a nice time to sit and chat and just spend some time together.




We stopped by Century 21 (a huge department store) and window shopped as I anxiously watched my time fade away. Time ticked away to nothing and I had to tell my friends that I had to find the subway back to the hotel so I could catch my plane. It was murder hugging them goodbye. They stood there as I went down into the subway. It was too sad to behold. Gosh, I still miss them like crazy! Thankfully we are still able to get together online and chit chat. We may not be able to be physically together but we have those memories of NYC and I'll treasure them forever...

I got up to the hotel and got my luggage. I was supposed to go through Grand Central Station but by the time I got to the hotel, it was already too late. Sorry, next time, I promise......If I took the #1 to the A and then went to Jamaica Station, it'd be just in time. I did not feel very well and I was very depressed at leaving so I kept staring at the pictures I had in my phone. Memories....sweet memories....did it have to hurt so bad??

I got on the #1, wanting to get off at 59th street to go to the A. Hmmm....NYC subway trains have different schedules and stops on the weekend. Crap! That was my first mistake...I quickly listened to the speaker in an effort to try and find out how I could get to JFK now. I heard someone refer to the E, a line that does go to the airport. I quickly changed trains and got on the E. Unfortunately I was on the E for over an hour. My time to get on the plane was quickly evaporating and I had no back up plan in case I missed my flight. Then there was another message over the intercom....Jamaica Station to the airport was closed so we had to get off at some other stop and shuttle to the airport. OK, I followed the lines of luggage and got myself on the shuttle. For the first time I am in NYC traffic on a bus. Ok, new experience. The shuttle stops, and I get off. The shuttle takes off. Ummmm......where is everyone else getting off? I watch as the shuttle takes off to who knows where. This is not the airport.....this is downtown Jamaica, New York and no airport is in sight. WOW! OK, I start walking....I am one of two people, the other guy is just as bewildered as I am....and we just start to walk. We see the Airtrain go by us on the rail above us. I roll my eyes as I keep walking, laughing at my own stupidity and foolishness. What else can go wrong? My misadventures were not over by a long shot..sadly.....

I walked while the other guy took off down another street. OK, now I am alone walking with luggage down a strange town and not knowing where the heck I am going and it's 3:30pm and my plane is ready to leave at 4:25 pm. Soon, I spy a familiar sign...a gas station....The first gas station I have seen in NYC. And wow, my luck, about 5 New York City Taxis were changing shifts. I sprinted to them and told them, didn't ask, told them that I had to get to JFK immediately. I got into the back of a cab and we were off. They do know how to drive down the street. It was a four mile ride to JFK in the cab and it cost me $12, but it was just another addition to my adventure! I got to the terminal with 25 minutes to spare and I had not even checked in and gotten my boarding passes yet or gotten through security yet. Time ticking.....I got through the passes and security with 8 minutes to spare. They were boarding the last of the passengers when I ran up. OMG! I can't believe that my trip would have ended up like that. When I got on the plane, I sat in the very back and slowly calmed down a bit.

A very nice man sat next to me on the plane. I talked with him after I woke up. Apparantly I crashed after take off and woke up when the snacks came around. I felt like crap and didn't look too great either. He was a lawyer in Atlanta. He grew up in St. Louis so we talked about that. We landed in Atlanta and I got off the plane, called hubby to tell him I had landed and sat down to rest. I promptly fell asleep. In my tiredness and deliriousness over leaving NYC, I absent mindedly left my cell phone out for anyone to see......and steal.......I woke up later, was mildly refreshed from my nap, went to eat some yogurt to get some energy.... when I realized that my phone was missing. I looked around, checked pockets....nothing.....checked bags, nothing......not again..first my camera and now my phone?????? What the heck is wrong with me...I lose everything!!!!! Oh....I found my camera, in the bag, in a secret hiding spot for safe keeping...but my cell phone...gone. I called it with an attendants's phone...nothing.... The phone was off so it would not ring to let me or anyone else know where it was. So...I left Atlanta, never to see my phone again. The pictures that I had taken of my friends in Brooklyn, and the sights of the bridge were now gone. They are on that phone...but they are not with me. I knew I should have emailed those pictures to myself when I thought of it....now they are lost. Could have kicked myself for it.......

On the last flight home from Atlanta, not only was I tired from the weekend filled adrenaline rush I was coming off of, but now the depression of leaving New York, and then losing my cell phone with those precious pictures just put me over the edge. I got on the plane and fell into a deep, deep sleep. I didn't even hear the plane take off. I was that tired. I have never done that before....and hopefully won't do it again. I miss my phone and I miss the picture of my friends. We were eating at Subway and I snapped a picture of the two of them together. It was an awesome picture and now it is lost forever! Only in my memory....


Now it is a little over a week later and I still have NYC on my mind. Think about it often...miss the lights, excitement, the friends I got to know there. I will go back.... alone......to see more. In the future...someday.