An infection. Of some sort.

OK, not true. I mean, the part about my husband and I going to NYC IS true. And it is true that I got an infection; the untrue part would be that the infection is ALL I got from NYC. Not that I DIDN’T get an infection…just let me start over.

Many of you probably know that my hubby and I went to NYC last week. What many of may also know is that NYC is one of, if not my ALL-TIME favorite places on earth. And, I’ve been to some places, people. Some great places, like Colorado, which I call my “Happy Place,” and for good reason.

But there’s just something about me in NYC that makes me feel…

Creative

Energized

Excited

Empowered

Enthusiastic

And those are just a few words that describe how I feel about being in NYC – mainly just the “E” words, as you probably noticed.

Yes, I definitely have a love affair going with NYC and it’s nothing new. I have been to NYC many times and I’ve loved each visit so much. I started going as a teenager and am still going 20 years later; oh, alright, 33 years later.

I just love everything about it: the sights, the sounds, the people EVERYWHERE, the food, the shopping; you name something about NYC and, more than likely, I love it.

So, we left last Wednesday morning, early, for the airport, with me on Tuesday evening feeling like my throat was a little scratchy. This is the part of the story where I need to tell you about New Zealand.

I love NZ! OK, you now probably think I’m totally exaggerating my feelings over NYC, CO and NZ, but I promise you, the love stops with those 3. I mean, I’m a Texan, so surely it’s just assumed that I love TX, right? OK, there are 4 places – TX, NYC, CO and NZ that I love, is everyone OK with that? Great, because I’m not even going to mention Europe. Moving on…

The last time we went to New Zealand, the night before our flight home, my throat felt a little “scratchy,” which, you know, is not at all unusual for me, the allergy queen. What I didn’t realize at the time is that the congestion causing the scratchy throat would manifest itself by making my ears feel like someone had driven a steel bar in one and out the other, I can only assume to check for a brain. Yeah, that happened on the flight home, and yeah, it was that bad. Actually, my left ear was the worst and my eustachian tube has not recovered yet. True story.

So, when I noticed the scratchy throat, I, because, you know, I’m brilliant, decided to immediately get Mucinex and make sure I had Afrin nose spray for the flight – which I ALWAYS carry on a flight, after the unfortunate eustachian tube incident.

So, when we landed in NYC, no pain. My throat still felt a little scratchy, but no pain, so a victory. Or, so I thought.

Thursday morning, I woke up feeling great and happy to be in the city, but Friday morning and every morning after that, I woke up feeling pretty bad, progressively worse. Which brings us to Monday morning, back home in Lumberton, where I dragged my sick self to the doctor, thinking I had the worst sinus infection in the history of sinus infections, which is what I was treated for: antibiotic and decongestant. And, that was fine and reasonable until the high fever set in that afternoon, which, if you ask me, sounds a lot more like flu. And, after having flu WAY TOO MANY TIMES, I should know.

So, I said ALLLLLLLL of that to say that I’ve been sick. All week. Every morning I wake up with a headache that makes me feel like something heavy feel on my head overnight and it takes most of the morning to make it go away. My scratchy throat, which turned into a sore throat, is so much better and no fever since Tuesday evening, but the headache is still bad, not to mention that junk that I’m blowing out of my nose (I don’t mention it because it’s DISGUSTING) is all still there. I finally got out today because I got new glasses and and needed to pick them up and I just couldn’t stomach another episode of The West Wing, even though I love that series more than I can say.

So, I’m at a coffee shop, waiting to pick up groceries and thought you all might like a blow-by-blow of my trip to NYC! So, here we go:

Wednesday: we landed around 3pm, were driven into the city by the company hosting Robert’s conference. We checked into our hotel, then set out to find a place for me to eat, since Robert was eating that night at the conference. NYC is a walking city, which I just love, so we walked over to a little restaurant, where I ate and Robert nibbled. He had to be back to the conference thing by 6, so he left me to buy Metro passes for the subway – which I also love!

I did, and decided to go to a very touristy place called Serendipity’s for a wonderful, expensive and way-too-big-to-finish ice cream sundae. It was so worth it, friends. Then Robert met me and I took him to see Times Square for the first time. He was impressed.

Thursday: I was on my own on Thursday, from start to finish. I was trying to do all the things I didn’t think Robert would want to do, so here’s what I did. I went over to Chinatown and just kinda walked around. I love Chinatown, I mean where else in the country can you buy fresh fish, produce, flowers and cheap souvenirs on the street? I bought a NYC tote bag and cap, because, you know, those are the things I need in my life. Then, I went to what’s left of Little Italy and had a great NYC-style slice of pizza. Yum.

Then I went over to my favorite place in NYC – Chelsea. Now, if I ever live in NYC and am, you know RICH, I will live in Chelsea. There they have this cool market of mostly local vendors and an Anthropolgie store in what they call, uh, Chelsea Market. Yeah.

Then I went to Tiffany & Co and bought a BRACELET!!! In all the years I’ve been going to NYC, I’ve never made a purchase a Tiffany’s. It was so fulfilling!!!

Then I had some amazing Indian food, met Robert and took him to see Grand Central Station. My apple watch showed that I took 26,000+ steps on Thursday and that’s WITH riding the subway. NYC is a walking city!

Friday: On Friday I started feeling really badly, so I stayed in and packed because we were moving to another hotel in Midtown. After we checked in to our new hotel, we went on a really cool harbor cruise, where you can get great pictures of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, the Brooklyn Bridge and, when the sun goes down, the NYC skyline – beautiful! Our tour guide was great, we froze to death and Robert loved it!

Then we had dim sum for DINNER!!!! It was so good; in “the city that never sleeps,” you can have dim sum for breakfast, lunch AND dinner!

Saturday: Saturday was the only day that we had bad weather, but it was pretty bad. It rained all day. Luckily, we anticipated that and my boy scout husband brought our rain gear. On Saturday we went to the 9/11 Museum. It’s fairly new and wasn’t even open the last time I was in NYC, which was about 5 years ago.

I don’t know the correct language to express how moving and deeply emotional this museum was. It was extremely well done, but I fought back sobs through the entire tour. It’s something EVERY AMERICAN should see, but I don’t think I could go through it again.

After the museum, we went to eat at a favorite Italian restaurant that everyone should try, called Carmine’s. It’s family style portions and so, so good!!! We even made it back to Texas with leftovers!

That night was the highlight for me: Riley purchased us tickets to see the Broadway version of To Kill a Mockingbird, which is one my FAVORITE books. Ever. Atticus was played by Ed Harris, a wonderful actor, and from now on, my vision of Atticus will be a mixture of Gregory Peck and Ed Harris. The performance was dramatic, hilarious, thought-provoking and just so, so good.

Sunday: By Sunday, I was REALLY feeling poorly, so we basically just ate breakfast, packed and left for the airport.

All in all it was a GREAT TRIP! Robert even said he wouldn’t mind going back someday – you know, after he’s been to some other places he’s never been before – so, you know, my work there is done.

I’m starting to feel a little fuzzy, possibly because of my new glasses and possibly because I’m sick and should lay down, and I need to go get my groceries, so that’s it for now!

Don’t forget to listen to my podcast tomorrow, where I’m sure I’ll have something profound to say. In between blowing my nose and taking Sudafed.