A few days ago I came across something from a long, long time ago in a galaxy far away: a Tiffany charm. It reminded me of my very first trip to New York City when I was twenty years old. Gather round, children, and listen.It was New Years 2006, and I was a junior in college.
A couple of my friends were going with a larger group of their friends to NYC for about 4 days over New Years. I had a couple connections, but the main connection to this group was a guy I had previously been dating but was no longer dating. Yeah, so... about that...
We'll call him George. George and I had been friends since our freshman year and had admitted we were interested in each other toward the beginning of my junior year. He wasn't in college with me at the time but lived in the same city, so we saw each other and were "an item" or whatever. Fast forward a bit and he said he wanted to talk... bad sign. Anyway, it was the worst news you could get and things ended between us. That was in the fall sometime. But around Thanksgiving/Christmas, he asked if I wanted to go with that group of 11 to NYC. I knew several girls going and a couple of the guys, and I thought it sounded fun. And George and I weren't dating so I figured it'd be fine.
I don't know why I thought it'd be "fine," going with our "relationship" in that awkward situation, but that's the kind of thing you think when you're that age, I guess. (Maybe it was willful ignorance, looking back...)
Regardless, we all went.
My goal on this trip was to thoroughly enjoy the city in its winter beauty and have fun with friends. (His goals were a little different, which became apparent during the trip, but we'll get to that.)
I mostly hung out with my two friends Meredith and Erin. We shopped and ate and got coffee and saw all the touristy things -- The Statue of Liberty, the top of the Empire State Building, the tree at Rockefeller Center, Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, and we had to eat at the Seinfeld restaurant! It was a blast.
 |
| That's me in the tan furry coat! |
Meredith and I wanted to go to Tiffany, and of course, I didn't have any money for that kind of thing, but we went anyway. It's a really cool experience if you have never been! The frugal white angel on my right shoulder suggested I save the extra money I had brought for something else, but the more spontaneous sterling silver Tiffany angel convinced me that I needed this necklace charm for $100. So I got it and I love it to this day! Lurking around Tiffany was an unforgettable thing for me.
The real moment we'd all been waiting for was, of course, the ball drop in Times Square. We arrived early and were fenced into our little square (which you couldn't leave at all!). People were peeing in bottles (or just on the ground) to avoid getting out of their spot. Everyone was loud and drunk. It was bitterly cold. And the giant ball was so tiny from where we were standing. It was not quite what I'd pictured, but it was definitely memorable! And a once-in-a-lifetime experience for sure.
George had the idea that this was a good time to try to stand close to me so that when New Years hit, maybe he could get a kiss out of the deal. I became aware of the situation and sidled up to my friend Erin and pretended to be busy chatting and laughing with her so that ... well, nothing happened. Thanks, Erin! =)
 |
| I'm in the front row on the left in the white coat |
Meredith knows how to shop like no one I've ever met. She can navigate a luxury boutique and back alleys of Chinatown like a pro. In this case, we were looking for some knock-off brand bags. Nothing crazy. And Meredith knew how to tell the real from the fake much better than I did. We were looking around for Louis Vuitton when a man approached us with a paper with some photos on it. It was a page full of LV purse types. We looked at each other and at him and followed him to the side of an unmarked van with tinted windows. We pointed to the one(s) we liked and he talked to another man inside the van via walkie-talkie, and that guy brought out two black bags. We opened them and peeked in, then paid the guy for the bags and left.
"Cool!" I thought. Nothing bad could have happened, right? And, as it turned out, they were the real deal. How'd they get them? No idea. I did not ask the nice man with the kidnapper van how he came to possess such nice authentic bags and what paths in life led him to sell them at such advantageous prices.
When our trip was over, we were at the airport and getting ready to go. I'd avoided any awkward conversations with George the whole time we were there. Honestly, I was naively surprised to realize he had asked me to go in hopes of rekindling something and not just as a gesture of kindness. (No comments, please)
We waited in the terminal for our United flight. (United...yeah you know where this is going already, don't you?)
So everyone in the group besides George and I had booked their tickets together. But because George had invited me, he'd coordinated our tickets on his own. Therefore, we were on a different flight home. And then, the entire United system crashed and no flights were going anywhere. So we sat... awkwardly... in the terminal. For hours. And hours. And he asked me if he had a chance at all, and I had to say no. And we finally got a flight and made it home.
And United lost my luggage. The end. Fail.
Comments
Post a Comment