Life Goes On

The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.

My Friend Will Be Motherless on Mother's Day

While in Jersey Shore traffic during my commute home yesterday, I phoned my friend whose mom died a week ago and got voicemail. Told her I'd call again. Haven't yet.

Mother's Day is tomorrow here and I am feeling a bit guilty that I still have my mom...and am begging God as I write this to let me keep having her in relatively good health for many more years, and Pat's mom, too.

We'll celebrate Mother's Day first at a botanical garden and then at a restaurant in one of the New York boroughs, if the weather cooperates. I wonder how my friend will feel particularly tomorrow, or if it will be simply another day of shiva.

Vacation: What to Do with Myself

Sleep

Two weeks stretch out before me. I've already fulfilled one vacation-wish; I slept for eight hours last night. I don't remember the last time I had such a complete sleep.

Blog

And this is my second wish for my vacation: to blog freely, rather than as a guilty pleasure in-between work and school projects.

Swim

Otherwise, I hope to swim with Pat every day that the pool's open (it is closed on Saturdays), and spend three blasts-worth of time in the steamroom with Pat afterwards -- a luxury that I have time for typically only on Sundays.

It's such a reward after the swim, sitting in the cloudy steamroom for just the right amount of time -- not so long that we become dizzy -- and then standing under a warm private shower without rushing.

Read

The semester is over and I earned an "A" in ORLD 4500 Learning Democratic Practices and I am going through withdrawal, as I'm so used to either working or reading and writing for school...and I'm also delighted not to *have* to read a particular text at this point, for at least a little while.

For pleasure, I've been reading Kiran Desai's The Inheritance of Loss (Click on the book title only if you don't mind having the plot spoiled....I'm not reading the full review myself, as I'm not quite done and I don't want to know the ending) for half of the semester -- just several pages a night pre-sleep -- and it will be wonderful now to just complete it in one small reading binge. My colleague and friend Chitra gave it to Pat as a gift during her last business trip, and I stole it from Pat, to read first. Bless Pat for her flexibility!

And that's my third wish for my vacation -- to read whatever I wish for the solid, two weeks. Maybe I'll read some more Indian fiction.

Love New York

Another wish -- to enjoy New York City (14 miles east of us) whenever we want during the two weeks.

Pat and I are going to see the Broadway play that features Angela Lansbury as a retired tennis player. Pat says, "I'd pay to see Angela Lansbury read from a telephone book." This was her response after reading a not-too-glowing "New York Times" review.

I don't like to read reviews ahead of time, ever since I read the review for Sandra Bernhard's one-woman show several years ago, which included her best lines, and so they were less funny to me live, since I'd heard them before.

Grill

During the vacation, Pat will also grill meat and vegetables on the Weber grill on our deck and we'll enjoy the flowering trees and the budding irises in our backyard. She has already told me about an article she read, about grilling portobello mushrooms for breakfast, and placing omelettes atop them. She has pledged to try it for us on Monday.

Visit Friend(s) and Family

Another wish is to see my childhood friend; it has been six months or more, and she lives less than an hour away!

We will see my family this weekend and perhaps again, too. Pat and I are getting our hair cut today in my hometown of Stamford, where my mom still lives, and then taking my mom to dinner and a free jazz concert in Westport.

In fact, time to get ready for a day in the 3-D world....

If you had a vacation right now, how would you like to spend it?