Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.

New London, CT
On Friday we Ubered to Seatac, flew to Charlotte and then Providence. Next, we ubered to Amtrak and rode a train into New London. Abby picked us up from the luxe Holiday Inn, not to be confused with the Holiday Inn Express. Abby came to get us in her 2001 Honda CRV which creaks more than my knee which I didn't think possible. I discovered last night while at the restaurant that I'm down to the drugs of my checking account my next paycheck not coming until next week and me unwilling to dig into my savings anymore. Between inflation and the cost of living in supporting at least partially one child and completely the other on one income life isn't fun for me these days. I have a plan I'll work it out and I digress really I wanted to talk about all the traveling. Tonight we saw Abby's show which I cannot explain. Nevertheless it was lovely to see Abby in her--you know--milieu. We had dinner at Chipotle, then went back to Abby's dorm which is really a house on the Thames. She is in her element.

Really I'm progressing again this is really a story about travel it's supposed to be today's conversation but I decided to try the audio recording or version of the keyboard I'm using and it's easy to ramble and I'm sure that my speaking voice is much different than my writing voice. Nevertheless, here we are. So tomorrow Abby has one more performance at 7:00 p.m. and then we will come back to the Holiday inn (and like why doesn't it capitalize Inn. . . weird). 

On Sunday we will travel to Holyoke with Abby's stuff, parking your car at the school and then ubering to Northampton, Massachusetts to catch an Amtrak to New York City. We will stay briefly briefly we will stay in the city for two nights Sunday and Monday and then we'll have the city all day Tuesday until we fly out of JFK at I think 6:00 in the evening returning to Seattle by 10:00 p.m. PST. The girls plan on seeing "Slam Frank"which I believe is an off-Broadway show maybe off off Broadway I don't f****** know. While there, I hope to visit La Sirena, a shop Jenny and I loved back in the day; Rockefeller Center, the 14th Street Christmas Bazaar, Saks for their light show, Macy's--because duh--and other Christmas haunts. It all sounds swell, except I am a broke ass negro. I am doing my best to pare the costs, but when traveling, well--goos luck with that Geoff.

Ultimately, I don't really stress too much. Christmas is here, the kids love it as much as I do, the hole in our lives that was left because of the devastation of pancreatic cancer will only get larger if we don't carry on the traditions. We are foregoing any large gift this year given the expense of traveling across the country and also are foregoing other expenses that we would otherwise incur like I will buy a reasonable size tree this year not one that's you know 15 ft tall as I have been doing since Jenny died. I feel like an idiot, I have to cut much closer to the bone than I had hoped. 

I am now struggling to go up and down stairs because of this cold and my bad knee. When I say this cold I mean it was in the '20s today in Connecticut I think it broke 14 by about noon or so and it's playing hell on my arthritic knee. Now that might sound like I'm getting old but in fact this knee's been full of arthritis since I was in my late '20s post my second meniscus surgery. I mean and honesty when I lived in the City my arthritis didn't bother me this much and I am getting stiffer and older and I'm noticing recently that my skin is doesn't spring back as much and I'm getting these mystery wrinkles that I'd never seen before it's really quick off quite fascinating so I'm not denying I'm getting older but the arthritis is just a b****.

There are things about small New England towns that I love and that I never expected. I prefer the West Coast because it's what I know, but there is a friendliness and indescribable quasi-urbanity here that I find attractive and would love to better understand.

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