Emily's Birthday

Last year was, in many ways, the best birthday Emily will ever have. She had just come home from the hospital with our new baby girl, and we got to hold one of our greatest gifts. But in other ways, she spent it napping, never really sleeping, learning to nurse, and recovering from a live birth. Needless to say, it left us both wishing it had felt a little more birthday-like.

So this year I decided to surprise her with the exact opposite experience: a non-stop, exhausting day-trip to remember. It was supposed to be a surprise, but I made the mistake of giving her one guess and she randomly picked the exact plan!

It all started with an early 4:30 rise. A quick breakfast, teeth brushing, and peeking in on Sarah and we were off!

We drove to Boston and took the first flight out to one of Emily's favorite places. . .

A subway ride from JFK, and we were in the heart of Manhattan. Our first sight, before we even walked outside, was Grand Central Terminal.

 

We walked around outside for the rest of the morning, through Times Square and Rockefeller Center, all the way to Central Park.  

At the Corner of Central Park, there is a very busy Whole Foods, where we found a picnic lunch to eat in the park.

After spending the first half of the afternoon in Central Park, we took the Metro to Battery Park to board the Staten Island Ferry.

 

Upon return, we walked the financial district, seeing the rising new World Trade Center

By then it was dinner time, so we took the Metro to Brooklyn and ate at a famous pizzeria under the bridge.

That gave us just enough time to ride the train back to JFK, where the last flight back to Boston was waiting for us. We arrived back at our home at 2:00 in the morning, well worn out from a great day.

There were two very fun things for me in this trip. One was seeing the excitement on my wife's face around every corner. It seemed there was something she loved at every intersection. The other was seeing that this huge city somehow functions. Millions of images of God walking throughout the city, and somehow the individuals and government have figured out how to make it all work. There are exactly enough pizzerias, the streets are just wide enough, the trains go to just the right places, and all the goods get distributed to the people. A big city really is amazing. When you see it, and you long to be rich enough to live there and buy whatever you want there (because they have everything for sale), it really is hard to believe the riches and the glorious city that Christians are headed toward.

Until then, I'm glad to share many birthdays with my dear wife, who has been a more surprising journey and is a more beautifully complex creature than either of us saw that day.