A very special weekend

Grace and I spent this past weekend in New York with her best friend and her mother (who is one of my dearest friends; I know, I am fully aware of how lucky I am!).  They turn 10 exactly 7 days apart from each other, this week and next, so we were celebrating their big transition into double digits.

The weekend was gorgeous.  The sky was a saturated, autumn blue and days were warm.  We rode the subway, had dinner at Balthazar, went to a wonderful show on Broadway, danced on the big piano at FAO Schwartz, clinked white wine and Shirley Temples in a toast at dinner.  We took a carriage ride in Central Park,, ate cupcakes from Magnolia in a deserted park in the soft dark of early evening, walked up and downtown, visited mecca (Dylan’s Candy Bar), and had sushi for lunch.

The girls wanted desperately to play on a playground and so we did, walking into Central Park late in the afternoon on Saturday.  I watched them running around, their joy palpable, aware of it won’t be long until they won’t be caught dead at a playground.  My favorite moment in a weekend crammed with happy ones was our walk home from dinner on Saturday night.  Park Avenue was empty, the air held the last gasp of October’s warmth, and the girls ran ahead of us, their laughter ringing in the night air.

As usual it is the in-between moments that move me the most.  I walked down the street, chatting easily with a friend I cherish, watching my daughter and her daughter dancing ahead of us.  Those ten minutes were life at its richest and most wonderful, and I knew it as I stepped through them.  As we rode the train home on Sunday, Grace turned to me, eyes shining with tears.  She told me that she was really sad the weekend was over, but that she knew she would never forget it as long as she lives.

Neither will I.

15 thoughts on “A very special weekend”

  3. Lovely post.

    Beginning when I was about that age, my parents alternated taking me to NYC for one weekend every year around my birthday. 30+ years later, I still remember those trips fondly, and I’m certain they established my love for the city that I subsequently called home for many years.

  4. Love hearing about this wonderful weekend. I too have a 10 year old and it is such a magical girl on the verge kind of time. But mostly I love your moment walking home and that your daughter knew what magic the weekend held… Thank you for bringing a smile and a tear to me today.

  5. I, too, seem to live my life in those in-between moments. I am most interested in those times when life is in the process of becoming something else. The juxtaposition of sushi and playgrounds really says “this is what it means to be 10” to me: the sloshing between childhood and young adulthood.

  10. Awesome, Lindsey. Two years ago, we did something similar for my daughters 10th birthday. Steve and I took her by herself, leaving the other two at home. We did many of the things you did. Fun reminders. We made it a goal to take each one on their 10th birthdays. My son turns 10 in January, but he doesn’t want to go! He said he would rather go skiing somewhere. We will see what happens.

  11. The inbetween moments are the most treasured for me, too. I’ve always been a big believer in traveling with my kids- alone and as a family- because some of the most I tense moments arise when we are out of our everyday niche.

  12. What a beautiful reminder of the magic that life holds in seemingly ordinary moments. I am also so moved by how your daughter seems to realize that this is it…magical life…happening here and now. A beautiful lesson.

  14. When my sister and I were kids we used to nag our parents incessantly to take us to New York. For various reasons (foremost being that my mom believes that she hates Manhattan…) they never did. Now having gone several times as an adult, I’d sort of forgotten about how much I’d longed to go as a kid. But reading this post brought it all back to me.

    The weekend you describe here is EXACTLY what I’d wanted. And even though I never got to experience New York a child, I’m so glad for Grace that you gave her this perfect weekend. And it makes me excited for the day when I take my kids there for the first time.

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