Things I learned while in NYC

Cabbies love talking on cell phones. Now, this isn’t exactly a surprise for anyone, including me. But I am shocked that every cabbie apparently has a plethora of friends and family who will let him talk and talk and talk through his entire shift. I swear that I didn’t take a single cab ride with a driver who wasn’t talking on his phone (usually not in English) the entire time. On the plus side, every taxi has a user friendly credit card reader and automatic receipt print out which makes my expense reports so much easier.

I could never live in NYC. The excitement and hubbub of the city is great for a visit but the thought of living there isn’t for me. First I think it would be hard to downsize from a house to an apartment. And the commute and lack of car would also be a challenge. Lugging an infant around the subway to get to daycare is about as far from appealing as you can get. Perhaps if I started in the city right out of school it would be fine but now that I’m settled in a small city I’m not sure I could do it. Well, if I get paid a ton of money I might!

I’m ready to stop pumping. The biggest drain on my enjoyment of the trip was having to think about pumping all the time. I was lucky that a private office (with a lock!) was available along with a fridge in the break room. But then I had to worry about keeping the milk cold throughout dinner. And lugging my pumping bag around on top of my laptop and purse while traipsing along the streets of Manhattan was not fun. Not to mention wanting to fall into bed each night after long dinners (and drinks!) but having to pump first. I told DH I was done after this month. He doesn’t believe me (not sure I do either) but I am definitely creeping closer to that end point.

10 years isn’t a long time with good friends. As much shit as social network sites get, Facebook allowed me to find and connect with a lot of old college friends. I took advantage of that and had dinner with two friends the first night I was in the city. We had an awesome time catching up, splitting a couple of bottles of wine and lying to each other about how we haven’t changed a bit. Well, I wasn’t lying about them but I’m sure they were about me!

I missed Cameron but I enjoyed my trip. I did dream about her each night and actually got out of bed at one point because I thought she was crying. No Carl Jung necessary to analyze that one! I knew Cameron would be in excellent hands with DH and she was. They had some quality father/daughter time and DH got lots of practice handling her routine all by himself. Now I know I can leave any time and they will be just fine. I foresee many more business trips in my future so that’s a good thing.

I can't wait to head home tonight and see my little munchkin first thing in the morning! Fingers crossed that my flight is on time.