Counting down. The final minutes of this last day. The end of the first half century of my life. Fifty fucking years.
It is a staggering number. Thirty and forty are major milestones to be sure. I bore those gracefully. But fifty is different. It's half of one hundred. It just feels like the ultimate dividing line of my life. The watershed. The year 1ad.
Tonight I go to sleep feeling unusually content. This last day started off rocky. Sam difficult. Everyone cranky. But we made it to MoMA, and despite suffocating crowds we --Leo and I--managed to pay our respects to some venerable old friends. Annoyed with myself for having to look at the tags to jog my memory. But never mind. Leo took a ton of photos. My old friends will be his next. I get a huge thrill out if his delight when he spots a painting we have a print of at the monkey house. (Incidentally, the more conceptual and HUGE the art gets, the thinner the crowds get.)
So then we split up and the boys went north for a dollar slice and the planetarium. I went south to my kasha knish mecca on 46th, then down to Greenwich and 6th. A perfect intersection. And then all the pieces fell into place. Popped in to see my guys at Hector shoe repair, left with my Blunnies gleaming. Across to Bigelow Chemists --seemingly the only place to buy my favorite lip balm. Decided right then to acquire a haircut within the hour. Asked the woman who waited on me at Bigelow. She said sure, next block. Walked in and was brought to the chair of a delightful woman from Ukraine. I knew instinctively that she knew exactly what to do. She did indeed. I had so much confidence in her that I didn't even check the back before I left.
From there I waked up 6th and found an AT&T store to get a little more juice for my dying phone. Then kept going to 19th to get my MUJI on. Perfect tiny travel bottles for face and hair goop. Happy. Walk down to container store and maintained complete self-control in the face of overwhelming odds. Stayed focused. Got what I came for.
Next a bit of confusion as my battery began to die again and I was unable to contact Drew. Turns out his phone had already died. Decided it was getting to late to head east to Dok Suni for dinner as planned. So I hopped in a cab with my box if hangers and headed back up to 6 Columbus, our sweet little hotel where they take such good care of us.
I should explain here that all further desires for the evening were more than ably met within a space of less than a quarter of a block. About 3 doors up is Sushi Doma, which nearly blew my mind. Everything just that much better than the usual. Sam scarfed edamame. Leo had his pickled ginger fix with a salmon and avocado roll. Drew had an enormous plate of sashimi and an equally large sake to match. I had perfectly light, perfectly crispy gyoza followed by enlightenment. Arugula and avocado wrapped in meltingly fresh slices of tuna, lightly accented with swirls of spicy mayo.
Good enough yes? Yes, but nowhere near done. Two doors over is Pinkberry. They have a special. Warm gooey apples topped with crumbley stuff, on top of that goes the original flavor frozen yogurt, then drizzled with caramel. Apple crisp is my number one favorite dessert, caramel sauce could only make it better. How did I not think of this?
The boys were all crashing hard, but the air had a delightful breeze, so they went up and I went around Columbus Circle. Then I had the brilliant idea to head back to the little nail place next to Pinkberry. They were closing, but still let me have a most excellent chair massage. 10 minutes for $13. I paid $20 and got a good deal. It was the longest, and best ten minutes of the entire day.
And after that, once more back across the street to the labyrinthine insanity that is whole foods. But I got my Switchel. A delicious new ginger beverage. My new obsession. Ahhhhh.
