Tag Archives: New York City

A Rose by Any Other Name………..

One can never have too many friends, or that ‘s what I used to think.

I was lucky enough to spend the weekend in New York City with my great husband and dear friends. We took full advantage of our time there. We made plans to have dinner, see an intimate venue magic show at the Waldorf Astoria, spend the next day at the Chelsea High Line, Chelsea Market, have dinner yet again at a great restaurant and see the IMG_4139Broadway show, An American in Paris.

Sounds great, right? And it was, but logistics had to be implemented every few hours.

These particular friends are great for lots of reasons, not the least of which is that down time and private time is always built into our joint ventures. So, we are glad to have cell phones and texting at our fingertips to make plans to meet up after we go our separate ways.

Just to make sure everyone was on board, I sent a group text to each of our friends with our meet up place and time in a few hours after breakfast. Weirdly, I kept getting a text from the gal asking me things like:

“Who is this?”

“Am I supposed to be somewhere?”

“I don’t know, what this is about?”

Since her guy was the typical texter, I thought, “well, maybe she doesn’t have my cell phone number in her phone.”

So I’m texting her back with polite messages like:

“it ‘s me, Cathy. ”

“We already made plans, I’m just giving you the time.”

“Just meet us in the hotel lobby.”

But I’m thinking, “geez what the hell is wrong with her? Obviously, it’s me and where and when we are meeting should make perfect sense to her.”

I keep reading  these messages from her and it hits me.  Her name is Terri. I have three friends in my phone named Terri. Terri K, Terri N and Terry R.

Terri K. was not the one I was in New York with. Terri K was at least two hours away in Pennsylvania losing her mind wondering why I was insisting she get her ass to New York City in half an hour.

Terry R was wondering why her boyfriend’s cell phone was texting incessantly with a group text message from someone neither of them knew.

I still think I could always use more friends, but Terry R’s boyfriend said I’m not allowed to add any more people named Terri  or Terry to my catalogue.

IMG_4138When Terri K saw my Facebook pics from the NYC trip, she was disappointed she didn’t make it on time, but hey, I gave her plenty of  notice.

“You Just have to Laugh…..”

©2016 Cathy Sikorski

 

Brussels Sprouts or Sidney Poitier?

In honor of Aunt Jean who passed away a year ago today:

Aunt Jean and two other great beauties.
Aunt Jean and two other great beauties.

Aunt Jean was an Australian blonde beauty who married my husband’s uncle in 1945. During World War II, Uncle Mike was stationed in Australia. He met Jeannie at a dance contest,  won the contest and her heart. At 18 years old, she moved to New Jersey without knowing a soul, moved in with my husband’s family and stayed here mostly, for the rest of her life.

Jeannie worked in New York City.  She had copious stories about all the famous and infamous people she met, more by accident than on purpose, which may be one of the greatest gifts most of us are missing by not listening to the tales of the elderly.

Her friend Mae was a live-in housekeeper in a high-fallootin’ building on the Upper East Side. When Mae’s employer went out of town, she was allowed to have her own guests over for dinner. So Jeannie and her friend Ellie got all dressed up just to go in the fancy building and up the elevator to Mae’s apartment.

Now the point of this story from Aunt Jean’s perspective was, as I was making dinner, she wanted to tell me how great her Irish buddy, Mae, concocted Brussels sprouts, so I could do the same. Something to do with sautéing them in onions and butter and bacon. But this is how she got to the Brussels sprouts recipe.

“So we were in the elevator going up to the penthouse and in walks a very handsome black man. My friend, Ellie is pulling at my sleeve and gesturing to me that this is someone I’m supposed to recognize. She’s rolling her eyes and trying to be cool, while the gentlemen is politely staring straight ahead. Finally, it hits me and I say:

“Excuse me Mr. Poitier, it’s so nice to meet you. Do you live in this building?”

“Why yes, I do. Do you?”

“No,” I say, “we are just visiting friends.” I said it like we weren’t visiting the housekeeper, of course.

“Well, that’s nice. And what is your name?”

“My name is Jean and this is my friend, Ellie.”

With that the elevator door opens for Mr. Poitier’s floor and as he gets off he says, “So very nice to meet you, Jean and Ellie. Have a lovely evening.”

“AUNT JEAN!” I said, “you met , Sidney Poitier????? You never told me that.”

“Oh, yes lovey that was fun, but let me tell you about the Brussels Sprouts, I’ve never had any so delicious.”

We miss you Aunt Jean, because whenever you were around….

“We just had to Laugh……”

©2014Cathy Sikorski