Your Very Own Brooklyn Tour

Even after all these years, I really have to gear up for the subway ride into Manhattan, aka "the city," as the locals call it. Taking the train into the city for six years was fine when I lived here, got a lot of reading done. But mostly I don't miss it. Yet many people do it for decades. Some people work in New Jersey and their daily commute from Brooklyn involves a train, bus, and boat. Not to mention the cost. This place can be a hard place to live and work.

So today as we thought about what to do, a 2-hour round subway ride held little charm for me. So we drove the car to Coney Island and shivered in the wind over Nathan's hot dogs. I'm saving up my gumption to go into the city for tomorrow which will be the big one for Amanda and me. Up and out first thing. Others will meet us midday. Thank goodness the TV show "Gossip Girl" is filmed near the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which means both my daughter and I want to go to there.

Mostly, we are enjoying family and playing with 5-year-old twins and reading and napping and wii-ing. It occurred to me today that my kids will have been to NYC too many times to count, and yet have not experienced many of the tourist sights. But hey, we're off to a good start thanks to today's scintillating driving tour which included a delicious Coney Island hot dog, ethnic neighborhoods, and old sites of their father's past life. We were going to show the kids their birthplace, Long Island College Hospital, however by that time the backseat duo were begging to end the Brooklyn tour.

"People would pay for this tour," insisted the father.

"Why?" asked the boy.

"I'll pay you to end it," suggested the girl.

Thanks much for coming over to the Charmer Blog. I hope you are all well. And I hope one day you can get a real deal tour of Brooklyn by the husband of yours truly.

With love, T

P.S. On Monday I start as communication director with the Des Moines Area Religious Council. My new commute is 8 minutes by automobile.