Macy's Parade 2004

Parenting has been critical to balance in caregivng. That yin yang like relationship, between parenting and Patti’s progressing disability has in many ways kept me sane. Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for the last 5 years has been momentous in that relationship.

 

New this year, to us, was viewing the balloons at ground level the night before. Heavy rain and traffic accidents extended a 3.5 hr drive into 6 hrs, missing actual balloon inflation. In spite of this, the event was impressive and unbelievably crowded considering weather.  

 

We stayed on the upper west side at the Hotel Beacon . Only a couple blocks from the start of the parade route, and where balloons are tied down, the hotel is a true treasure find in NYC.

 

After the parade, since the weather was a mind boggling 60 degrees, we went hiking in Central Park.

 

We began only 5 blocks from the hotel at Strawberry Fields Memorial across from the Dakota building where John Lennon was assassinated.  I was actually in New York that night when Lennon was killed, and like thousands of others I drifted to the Dakota before the night was over.  It was weird to be there again. Megan on the other hand wanted to go because it was the "real" location of the “#1 Most Infamous Moment in Rock n’ Roll History” according to MTV. It was odd but at the same time kind of cool to talk about it as we entered Central Park through Strawberry Fields. Megan is not a Beatles fan so it was 'refreshingly different' to walk through a temple to John Lennon and hear why Queen was a better band than the Beatles. <grin>

 

Ahhh! To be 16 ...

 

Best of all the new memories … I sat in the passenger seat while Megan DROVE us out of NYC. In East Coast driving mythology, driving in New York City is the Big Apple <grin>. Megan wanted to give it a try. There comes a point you have to believe in both your teaching of driving skills and your child. I just never thought that moment would come in the middle of New York City in the rain which had just started falling. Megan headed out through cross town traffic, down the disguised race course known as the West Side Highway, into the traffic merge for the Lincoln Tunnel which is really a big game of chicken and out into the megaplex of superhighways of New Jersey. Her driving was confident and properly aggressive for Manhattan. Her only improvement is needed in horn honking, cursing, and hand gestures. <grin>

 

It was good a time with new memories. Thanksgiving has always needed its share of counterbalance.