A Dream on Pause

Three nights in New York City. That’s all I got during my time as a full-time New Yorker. Three nights. I arrived and spent two nights in our Manhattan apartment. I flew to Iceland for vacation and spent one night at an airport hotel in NYC before heading out of the city for Don’s first week of working remotely because of the Covid-19 pandemic. His company’s plan was for one week remote and then one week in the office.

Don chose Maine as his place to work remotely for the week. He expected to be back in his office the following week. The $47/night harbor view Airbnb in South Bristol was warm, cozy and refreshing. But because of the pandemic, less than a week later things in New York City started to go south. And so did we.

We drove 32 hours to Houston to be near our children. Not the most logical decision because if anything happened to anyone, we wouldn’t be able to be with them anyway. But there’s logic and there’s emotion. I needed the comfort of being near my kids. And quarantining in a studio apartment while Don worked from home sounded hellish. Before we knew it we were in Texas.

As I spent time in quarantine in Texas, I watched from afar as NYC shut down and its ICUs began to fill up and then overflow with coronavirus patients. The death toll was growing exponentially. It was heartbreaking in so many ways. But for me personally, it meant that we weren’t going back to New York anytime soon. My New York City dreams would have to be put on hold.

When our lease was up, Don flew to New York, packed all our personal belongings, and shipped them back to Texas. The bachelor pad furniture was “donated”. In Texas we unpacked the boxes, incorporated some of the items into our everyday VRBO life, and the rest, you guessed it, went into storage.

Early during the sorting I came across a Playbill from the last Broadway show we saw. I tore off the cover page and looked around to put it with all of the others. They were all in the back of a photo-journal that I had started in October 2018-my first extended stay in NYC (3 weeks). My goal was to take one photo each day and write about it in the journal. I spent time getting the photos printed at a drugstore and gluing them on the left hand side of the page. On the right, was my daily journal. I used that journal for my two week trip during the holidays that year, too.

I hadn’t used the book as a journal since that year, but it was where all of my Playbills were stored. With the front cover of the Playbill still in my hand, I realized that the book was still in the small drawer in the NYC kitchen table. Wherever in New York that table might be.

I had been holding it together until the loss of that journal. That loss was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. I cried. And then I cried some more. I eventually regrouped. Coming out of the strict quarantine was helpful. I saw friends and enjoyed the beautiful Texas weather.

I even started planning a new adventure. We were due to be in Idaho for the July 4th weekend and since we’re just renting places to stay right now, why not use this as an opportunity to explore and live in different places. As long as Don is working remotely, my plan has a chance. And when he starts back at his office in New York City, I’ll get to restart my original dream.

So we’re driving to Idaho where we’ll spend the summer. If New York City offices are still shuttered in the fall, we’ll drive to Maine and spend a few months there.

Stay tuned to NewCityNewState for upcoming travel blogs!❣️