The Big Apple 1994

In 1994 my sisters and I had the opportunity to tag along with my stepmom's high school theater group and enjoy 7 days and 8 plays in New York City! We'd never been there before and were quite excited at the idea of traveling to the big apple the day after Christmas and enjoying all that the city had to offer.
I imagined the the New York of movies; everything covered in snow and lit up with a million twinkle lights. We'd be bundled up and travel by taxi to all of our Broadway shows, dine in eclectic restaurants and diners, and perhaps run into the likes of Robert DeNiro, Martin Scorsese, Billy Crystal, Liza Minelli and who knows who all!

Christmas night I could hardly calm down to get any sleep. I had invested in some hats, ear muffs, scarves and serious gloves; and was more than ready to see my very first snowfall ever; and in NEW YORK for God's sake!
The flight seemed to take forever, and the movie was Forest Gump. I spilled some of my Bloody Mary on my good sweater during some turbulance but no matter, it would be covered in coats and scarves in no time once we landed.
As we taxi'd onto the runway the pilot announced "We are experiencing an unseasonably warm winter for this time of year with no snow in the forecast."
What? NO! WHAT?

It took us forever to get to our hotel. It was very late once we did get there and we were exhausted. My sisters and I had a room down the hall from my Dad and Dee Dee and we made quick work of dropping our bags and jumping onto our beds as soon as we got in. Ooooh it felt good to lie down. We had said goodnight to the parents and had all gotten into our jammies and were enjoying the in-room presentation of the Joy Luck Club when the hotel phone exploded with the loudest ring ever.

It was Dad. "I have a great idea" he said "let's go do the Empire State Building real quick."
We all groaned. "We'll do it tomorrow."
"Nooo! We've got the Whitney Museum tomorrow, dinner at that place in Tribecca, and then we're seeing Carousel. All the rest of the days are booked with a play or two too. If we don't go tonight we won't make it. C'mon kids, WE'RE IN NEW YORK! What a perfect thing to do on our first day here! I'll be there to get you in five minutes." and he gleefully crashed the phone down on its cradle.
"Mei Mei! Mei Mei" were the cries of the sweet Asian girl being tearfully separated from her sister in a very touching scene from Joy Luck Club. My sisters and I decided right then and there that we were now going to refer to each other as such.
We pulled our clothes back on and clumped downstairs.

Another thing Dad insisted would be part of the authentic New York experience was to ride the subway to the Empire State Building. I don't remember what the actual time was but it seemed waaaay late. There was what I assumed was a slightly insane gentelman facing me on the subway just staring. I mean staring. I was trying to act nonchalant when Dad thought it would be a great thing to do to take a snapshot of me on my first real subway ride. In the picture you can see the horror on my face as my father validates any ideas the other passengers may have had about us being lame tourists.

Here's something I learned - there's no such thing as doing the Empire State Building "real quick". There were loooooong turnstyles to wait in just get pack yourself into an elevator that had way over the legal weight in it, and was so vaporous with thick body odor that I choked and coughed while trying not to have a claustrophobia attack.
Once we got up there I remember being so tired and punchy that I just laughed and laughed and teased Dad for dragging us literally from our beds to do this "real quick" errand.
I have lots of great memories about that trip. Mei Mei Casey and me pantomiming the entire song "I Would Die For You" by Prince in the Harley Davidson store, taking pictures next to the stunning amounts of garbage piled on the streets, ice skating in Central Park, frozen hot chocolates at Serendipity's, seeing 8 glorious plays, and soaking up New York with my family.

I didn't ever see any snow fall in New York; and I've been there twice since ("unseasonably warm" again they said). But that sure was a magical trip; I became a theater goer, and I became a Mei Mei.