Final weeks in NYC...

Please excuse my long absence from the blogosphere. I had less than 3 weeks in New York City, and it was all a total blur. Aside from catching up on 3 months’ worth of unopened mail and paperwork, I had to do the final packing up and moving out of my apartment before closing on the sale March 20. I was also laid up with back and neck problems for most of my sojourn in the city, due in no small part to my first car accident ever in NYC. Sadly, I didn’t get an opportunity to meet up with nearly as many friends and family as I had hoped. :-(

Let’s start with the little traffic incident. I caught up with Sharon, Rachel & Tom for a drink in Chelsea about a week after I got back to New York. Rachel, Tom and I were then sharing a cab uptown. As we were heading west on 19th Street, a station wagon apparently ran a red light heading southbound on 9th Avenue and crashed into the right-rear corner of our taxi as we were passing through the intersection. We actually spun nearly 270 degrees and finally hit a parked car and came to a stop. It took a bit of time for police officers and others on the scene to get the taxi door open so we could get out, and the three of us all seemed to be in shock and banged up to varying degrees. I had quite a bit of pain in my neck and hips, and an ambulance took the three of us to the hospital.

Really, though, we were all very lucky. I think if the car had hit us just a second sooner, it would have collided head-on with the right rear door (next to which I was seated), as opposed to our right rear fender, and it would have been much, much worse. As it was, quite a bit of damage was done to our taxi, and our rear bumper was sent flying south down 9th Avenue, while we were sent spinning west on 19th Street. As you can see, the trunk lid was torn off the car and a good part of the trunk was shredded. (In this photo, you can also see my favorite blue hat on the rear dash -- it obviously flew off my head in the accident, never to be recovered. *sniff*)

The taxi Rachel, Tom and I were riding in, just after the accident

I spent a few hours at the hospital, where they insisted on taking x-rays, etc. Fortunately, for the most part, it seemed like I was okay, and I managed to see Dr. Jeff (my chiropractor) about 12 hours after the accident happened. I had some whiplash, as evidenced by the “shearing” between vertebrae in my neck, as well as “cervical straightening” in my neck, and my pelvis was a bit dislocated, but hopefully nothing that will give me too much trouble long-term.

Me at St. Vincent’s Midtown just after the accident, waiting to have x-rays taken. :-(

Never one to let some minor spinal issues hold me back, I made it to my brother Tommy’s place a couple of days later for his 42nd birthday. I couldn’t believe how much my niece Maya and nephew Michael had grown since I saw them last!
My mom and niece Maya at Tommy’s

Me, Tommy, my parents, my nephew Michael, Malgosia and Maya

I took a trip out to Long Island to see my brother Tim and his wife Kim and their son Timmy Jay. As you can see from the following pics, Timmy Jay is simply the most adorable child ever. J

Timmy Jay at Ruby Tuesday

I also managed to catch up with Kerry and Stacy over a couple of drinks at O’Hurley’s. Our favorite bartender Mr. Will took this photo of us – note my freshly-poured cosmo on the rocks.

I made a few trips down to New Jersey to move some stuff to both my sister’s place and my parent’s house in Monmouth County. While I was driving in the express lane on the Garden State Parkway, I noticed this rather unfortunately labeled van driving down the local lane. I snapped this photo, and then later found out from my mom that “Monmouth SCAT” stands for “Monmouth Special Citizens Area Transportation.” Somehow, I think they could have come up with a better acronym…

While in New Jersey, I visited a bit with Mike & Marie Steven, my parents’ best buds from too many decades ago to count. They were minding their beautiful granddaughter Autumn, so I got to meet her for the first time as well.
My sister MaryBeth and little Autumn

And lastly, just before I left New York, Rachel & Tom hosted a brunch at their apartment where we got to catch up with our old friend Richard and finally got to meet his new main squeeze, Shelley. We had a really great time, and it was nearly impossible to pull myself away to go back home and keep packing up my apartment.
Shelley, Richard, Me, Rachel & Tom

Alas, I didn't get to see a whole slew of folks I had hoped to catch up with while I was in New York. So sorry about that! Definitely hoping to have a little more time to do so on my first visit back, in early May! :-)