Big Old Jet Airliner

Friday afternoon, as the sun was descending, and my friend Destin and I were training our engagement team on WebSphere MQ, my head drifted away from the meeting room. As several people slowly sipped a beverage or two at happy hour, my senses grew impatient, anxious to go see her immediately. Eventually my senior manager was leaving, so I went with him, giving the party the slip. I hurried back to the corner of 116th and Broadway to meet the young lady who had just made the flight from New Orleans to NYC's famous LaGuardia Airport.

As I hung up the mobile phone and spied Amanda tentatively stepping off the M60 bus across the street, I waited for the light to change, staring across the street at her wielding a goofy smile. At the street corner, two deep sighs of relief, two huge grins, an awkward moment of silence, a kiss, a laughter and a clamour. Hurriedly I introduced my bride-to-be the nuances of Columbia University. Walking past where Peter Parker calls Mary Jane from the pay phone, I chattered her ear off. At last.

Her flight had been late, so time only merited a quick deli sandwich and iced tea on the go, as I got her a Metrocard and hopped on a #1 train toward Times Square. At the AMC Empire 25 theatre, we went up 6 or so floors to the same-day released Ratatouille. The showing was sold out, so it was a good thing I had purhased tickets ahead of time. We were relegated to the very front row. Therefore, the little animated rats and French chefs of the movie threatened to jump right on top of our heads for the duration of the film. After that, we tried New York's famous Famiglia pizza and wandered around Times Square at the nearby areas, with the missus admiring the city's grandeur and bright lights.

The next morning after many happy conversations and very few hours of sleep, Amanda put on her black dress and I my trousers,shirt,andtie. We hopped a subway to Columbus Circle, walked a few blocks, and settled on a lovely spot outside Josephina, a French restaurant. After a hearty meal and explanations of many things (including software compliance), we were off again to the Broadhurst Theatre. We quickly took our seats and prepared for a wonderful Broadway, Les Miserables. I struggled to stay awake the whole time, Amanda smacking me around lovingly to help me. (It had been a long night of little sleep Thursday night, you see, followed by a romantic night out and about of yet again no sleep, as the next 2 nights would also be.) It was a pity I was so tired; because the musical was brilliant. The characters were compelling, the set design was creative and lively, and the songs were ethereal. Plot? Eh...very complex. Basically a convict from prison changes who he is and adopts the daughter of an poor prostitute and raises her, amongst other events such as the French Revolution. Gripping tale.

Later we ate Mister Softee ice cream, strolled through the mountainous Morningside Park near Columbia and walked through beautiful wooded areas and over bridges in Central Park, concluding with a nighttime devotion on a park bench. My brain fails to recall whether or not we went to the Toys R Us, M & M and Hershey's stores in TS that day or the next. We ended up by chance at another outdoor French restaurant late at night, Maison. I actually tried ratatouille, a vegetable dish. Not too shabby at all. Very tasteful, I recommend it.

Sunday morning we went to Times Square Church, which I think Amanda geuninely enjoyed. Afterward I took her to Chelsea's restaurant in Hell's Kitchen for brunch. Then off to Central Park for a stroll and a siesta in the sun, your must-do Sunday couple activity. Then I took her way down south, to the Financial District, and let her marvel at the West Hudson River and the office building I work at. The evening allowed time for a Staten Island Ferry ride, which afforded us a gale of a breeze, a beautiful sunset over the Jersey shoreline, and a silhouetted Lady Liberty.

To cap things off nicely, we went to Mars 2112, a special eating experience at 51st and Broadway. You go down into this basement of a building and are greeted by people in outer-space Star-Trekkish suits. They tell us "earthlings" to get inside the "ship" a 10-minute space simulator ride to Mars. We get off and are told the temperature is a ridiculously cold one and walk through several hallways that are decorated like Martian tunnels. We are seated in a large room that looks like the Martian landscape, full of holograms on the walls and dancing aliens across the restaurant floor. Our waiter says, "Greetings earthlings would you like a Martian appetizer" or something else silly like that. Amanda and I made sure to get some pictures with a jolly old chap, a blue alien with a knack for giving the "thumbs-up" and doing the "moon walk".

This morning seeing Amanda off to the bus station, as I joined my friend Destin on the subway, I glanced back over my shoulder to catch her eyes briefly. Her sweet smile suddenly was eclipsed by the top of the stairs I had just descended. I sighed deeply, rejected my free copy of the A.M. New York, and thought to myself of the time some 30-some days from now I would get off a plane in New Orleans and tell her, "I am ready."