Continued Confessions

one minute at a time

I LOVE NEW YORK! And that’s the truth. Even before that slogan was made popular with the heart in the middle, I have loved the City. So going down there on the train Monday morning was a treat in itself. I glued myself to the window on the coastal side of the ride and was rewarded especially with something that made me think of my reader, Freddie. There was a relatively circular natural pond surrounded by those beautiful white wading birds with the long beaks—standing at attention and I swear with an equidistant space between each one. A quick glance as we sped by but thankfully lodged now in my mind’s eye for future enjoyment. [Freddie posted a lone birdie picture on his site recently.]

Anyway, all told I had a wonderful trip, including celebrating my birthday morning in the middle of Grand Central Station as my darling sang to me on his early call. I have always loved that station and am so thankful that Jackie Kennedy Onassis had the forethought to lead the charge to save it. There’s now a plaque naming the foyer after her.

Finally, I met so many new people from so many different countries that I could write a book as they say. But I do want to share one in particular because it left me gobsmacked. Close to the end of the ride down, I could hear the young woman next to me talking quietly on her phone in what can best be described as a mellifluous language. Of course, once she had hung up, I commented on how beautiful she sounded and had to ask what she was speaking. It turned out to be Bengali, and she was from Dubai and was talking to her best friend who was in London. She was on her way to work in the City and dressed in tasteful slacks. But she noted that back home her father had never let her wear them and forbade her from working. She then described the common practice there of arranged marriages, which is how she came to New York and her friend ended up in England. Her father had agreed that if her husband allowed her to work and wear slacks, he would not object! Hence, she was feeling very liberated, I guess. But the conversation had started with her noting that he was the only man she had ever been with so she had nothing to compare him with (when I asked whether he was nice). She is now thirty and they are thinking of children but I suspect that her job will go out the window. I honestly had no idea that the whole burka thing was a reality. Now, I don’t know whether she wore one back home but to me the constraints of being ruled by the men are terrifying.

In the doctor’s waiting room, I thankfully met a woman who was the complete opposite. She was a corporate executive and had lived an authentic life since coming out to her parents just before she was to make the mistake of her life by marrying a man. She said her family has been incredibly supportive and now at 65 she has been happily partnered after an encounter at a gay nightclub with a love-at-first sight woman who actually had three children and had divorced her husband when she, too, discovered later in life her true passion. I was so happy for both of them, and it turns out the ex-husband and father of the children had complimented my new friend recently on all she had done for “his” kids. That seems to me like a very happy story.

And now I have to wrap up because I am looking forward to another round with Todd Blanche at 9 a.m. I know, I know. My BFF thinks I am absolutely bonkers, but I do enjoy a contentious Senate hearing! So I’ll send this out then do my dishes and a little tidy up (then hopefully read my paper) before the fun begins.

RESIST ALWAYS

TTFN