Got to New York City last night. I felt surprisingly teary that when I left the Amtrak platform in Baltimore. The train just pulled away and I looked back at my parents and my sister standing there...my dad just having handed me the list of his distant relatives in India that he wants me to meet...and I had this moment of awareness...of fragility. So much can change in so little time and it's easy to take people for granted. And although I don't see my parents more than once every two months anyhow, this time the goodbye seemed different. I have to admit that I'll miss them!

Rach and her mom picked me up at Penn station and then we had a couple of drinks at an Irish pub called Molly Wee's. Then we met Rach's aunt Betsy and Joe Fredo at Mangia e Bevio (sp?) on 53rd and 7th...great Italian restaurant where we got tamborines and danced on the table! Afterwards, we drove back to Rach's apartment and split a bottle of wine, sitting on the balcony looking out over the skyline of Manhattan, just like old times. It's great to be free!!!

Today we visited the Tommy Hilfiger corporate store (Rach's dad is Tommy Hilfiger's cousin and Rach works there) and then we also visited the JLo clothing line office - got free clothes, yay! It's fun pretending to be someone important....still feel unsettled about flying out tomorrow night...hopefully the nerves will calm down soon.

~Hope