Before you lecture me for being too cavalier during an ongoing pandemic, let me reassure you that I don't view myself as truly fortunate for having taken these excursions. Both trips were not for pleasure.
That's not to say that I didn't try to find blessings in the midst of these trips, namely in the form of my spirit animal, the bike. Last week, I was in Indianapolis for a few days of work and managed to sneak in a few socially-distanced bike rides. For three days this week, I found myself in New York City and did the same:
This trip was family-related, even though we have no family living in NYC. For those of you who don't know, Faith (our daughter) was born with hemifacial microsomia and has been undergoing reconstructive surgeries for basically her entire life. Her surgeon is based in NYC and we were well overdue for a follow-up consultation, hence why we were there this week. Believe me, we wouldn't have ventured up there without a good reason.
With that, we as a family remain ever grateful for the MyFace Foundation, who provides lodging, travel aid, and other assistance for people like Faith and their families. Without them, trips like this wouldn't be possible at all. I'm happy to report in brief that she's progressing as expected, though we will likely be returning in the near future. Let's hope the global situation improves by then.
I mentioned that this wasn't a pleasure trip, and that's the truth. While we were there, we were required to abide strictly to the CDC guidelines, maintaining social distance and wearing masks in public places. We were also extra diligent about overall cleanliness, which included washing hands extremely often, using sanitizer whenever possible, and washing our clothes every day.
That last line is actually what granted me a little time to ride on our first morning. I was on laundry duty, so while the clothes were in the washer, I bought a CitiBike day pass and took a brief ride around the Kips Bay area:
We were only a couple blocks from the East River Greenway, and that seemed like a good direction to head. Let me tell you, this was one of the most unique rides I've ever taken. This regularly crowded trail was mostly desolate:
On a regular day, even I might find this trail to be a bit much to navigate. On Wednesday morning, it was quite easy. I'm not recommending everyone go out and clog up the trails. What I do agree with is regular outdoor activity while practicing appropriate social distancing. If I had encountered a full house, I would have turned back and headed back to the apartment. When I did head back, I washed up immediately upon return and changed clothes. In fact, I did this just about every time any of us left the apartment. Overkill? Maybe. Better safe than sorry? Of course.
Speaking of, for safety reasons, Rae and Faith agreed not to participate in renting the bike share bikes. Even I find them a bit cumbersome, and even with the lack of traffic on the streets, I'd never want to put either of them in a compromising situation. We still felt it important to get outside for a little bit each day we were there, so we took a few walks when time permitted. On one of these, we decided to pass through Times Square. It looked truly surreal:
We did have a bit of an ulterior motive with that decision in that we were hoping it would help Faith to appreciate just how big this event is in human history. She's been to Times Square during "normal" times, and I think once she saw that all of the famous stores and theatres were closed, it resonated. I know it struck me pretty hard, even though I was expecting it.
I did try to work a little more "formal" education into one of our walks. Since we couldn't go to any real historical exhibits, I decided we should take a short walk to Stuyvesant Square Park to teach some history. Stuyvesant wasn't a great guy, but he was pretty important to the history of New York City back when it was called New Amsterdam. When I told this to Faith, her first response was "Is that why you always sing that song?" (referring to the catchy tune by They Might Be Giants) and she learned a bonus music lesson too. We also got a good chuckle out of the Stuyvesant statue that had been adorned with a mask:
On our last day, I decided I wanted to get up early and take a nice long ride perhaps down to the southern tip of Manhattan. I figured it would be relatively easy from looking at the cycling routes, and also because most of them looked like this one in the Lower East Side on Chrystie Street:
I either overestimated myself or underestimated the map, because about 25 minutes in, I was still about 2 miles from the World Trade Center:
Knowing we had a full day of cleaning up the apartment and travel ahead of us, I decided to head back to the north. It was around 7:30AM by now, and once again, I was amazed by how little traffic I encountered on my way:
It was around this time I started thinking about us heading back to Ohio, to our town that we felt had been so drastically affected by the events of the world today, that I couldn't get out of my own head. I started thinking about how dramatically different New York seemed today as compared to how it appeared when we visited two years ago. I started thinking about how different we were as a family two years ago, when I hadn't even moved to Ohio yet. I started thinking about all that we've built and worked for, and how all of that was able to be permanently altered in what feels like an instant. And then, on the flip side, I started thinking about how a week prior, I was deep in the midwest, drinking a beer outside at a restaurant and feeling somewhat normal. I must have been having a really good bike ride, because I was all over the place, and not in a literal sense. But maybe we all are, and that's OK as long as we help each other to get through this.
On that note, I noticed on this trip that the stereotypical aggressive New Yorker attitude was mostly absent. I noticed a lot of people - I'd say 99.9% - doing everything they can to be safe and help others. People have asked me about my trip since I got back, and I gotta say, it wasn't so bad. I'd like to say it's because of people helping people. So whether you think this thing is serious or not (I usually tend to think the truth lies somewhere in the middle of the extremes), just do the right things. Wear a mask because it's really not that difficult. Wash your damn hands because you should have been doing that in the first place. Eat well and be active in your daily life. It's kindergarten stuff.
Obviously, we have arrived home safely, and I, for one, am much richer because of the travel. I can't lie to you and tell you I'll never take going places for granted again, but I can hope that I'll appreciate it more...and I hope you will too. Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend, as safely as possible.
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