Thursday, September 17, 2009

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.

5 comments:

LauraC said...

Your second point about NYC is THE reason Jon and I left Chicago before we had kids. In our case, we didn't want to push a stroller over frozen sidewalks and bundle kids up in snowsuits every day.

Mommy, Esq. said...

No wonder you haven't called me back - you've been busy being a social butterfly! Glad you had fun.

Danielle said...

NYC is not for everyone and there are days when I want nothing but to get out! Like this week while jackhammers are the soundtrack to our day everyday!

But, one of the beauty things about it is that you DON'T need a car - there are many daycares within walking distance so you don't have to get on the subway. Everything you need is within walking distance so you don't have to take the subway. Brady and I took it very infrequently until recently. Now it's a train adventure to him so we do it more often.

It's certainly a different lifestyle and there are pros and cons. As Brady gets older we'll rethink where we want to live. But for a baby - I LOVE the city!

Wow, I never thought I'd get defensive of life in the city with kids as I complain about it all the time. But in the end, it's best for us right now and I'm happy here.

Susan said...

I love New York to visit.....I agree with most of your points. But it is an awesome city. Having no car does sound good to me - maybe because mine is in the repair shop AGAIN =) We love snow - we actually love the 4 seasons in Michigan and we didn't push our stroller over frozen sidewalks - we put them in a sled...tee hee....

Donna said...

Pumping pumping pumping. With DS1 I lasted until about 7 months old, with DS2 I lasted until 11 months. It was extremely difficult. Any way you go, you still get kudos!