Tidd Family: June 2009

I have been thinking lately that good times tend to follow hard times. Not all the same size and shape, of course. Some hardships are big and dramatic, fitting of epic novels. Others are small comedies of errors and happenstances more suited to a Seinfeld episode, or a family blog.

There doesn’t need to be an antagonist. Could just be something odd. You are driving to a meeting, trying to close the most important deal in memory, and both front tires blow out.

Or perhaps you are trying to pick something up at a shop in midtown. Something that should have been ready weeks earlier, but wasn’t. A special order, and you are impatient.

It’s a Sunday but you’ve checked the hours and they are open from 11-5. But today just happens to be Puerto Rican Day, the annual invasion of flags, tank tops and baseball caps, loud music and catcalls, poorly decorated floats parading down 5th Avenue. Side streets are blocked off, including 47th Street with your stall of interest, Universal Diamond. The police let you through but the doors are locked, the windows empty. Wisely, everyone in there has taken the day off.

Determined, you try again the following Thursday. You plan to leave work no later than four, leaving an hour to make the 20 minute trip to midtown. Your last meeting ends early, 3:40, and you send your girlfriend a message that you are ready to go. You don’t hear back. She is still finishing up, you think. You send another at 4:10. Still nothing. At 4:30 you stop by her office, bag in hand, one last attempt before you go without her.

She is ready, waiting, wondering where you’ve been. Were you still in a meeting, she had wondered? Had you forgotten? Lost track of time? Some issue with the messaging system, and she hadn’t received any. You curse technology. Now you are going to be too late. The way things are going, you are sure the shop will close before you get there.

You try anyway.

You hurry to the subway. The streets downtown are most crowded that time of day, each pedestrian an obstacle to circumvent. The trains are just as bad or worse, but you are living in New York so you cram your way in. Your stop is 42nd St, Times Square, which you know will be the worst of all, but you are ready for it.

You are not prepared, however, for the torrential downpour.

You huddle under one umbrella but it is useless. It’s the worst spring weather you can remember. The rain blows in sideways. As you cross Broadway the wind shifts direction and soaks the rest of you. The crowds keep coming, wave after wave of umbrellas at eye level. You manage to keep your head dry at least, but your girlfriend is often forced out from beneath the shelter to avoid injury.

“I feel so fancy!” she says.

You agree to move to the South of France as soon as possible. Or Spain. Or anywhere.

Scaffolding covers the sidewalk in front of Universal Diamond, and you huddle under it, a reprieve from the rain. Are you too late? They are packing up inside. You step into the entrance and ring the bell. A small delay. A final surprise dousing of rain running off the scaffolding, and directly onto you.

They look up, smile, and buzz you in. You have made it! You look at yourselves in the wall mirror and laugh at the aftermath. Hair stuck to faces, business suits soaked through, hopelessly wrinkled. All fine.

The ring looks great. Your new Turkish friend, aptly named Gem, is beaming with the pride of a craftsman. He shows you a couple other rings. You like those too. You will save those for later. You pay (and now Gem is really beaming) and leave the shop.

The rain has stopped. You stroll along. You are feeling so good you break into song:

I got a little change in my pocket going jing-a-ling-a-ling!
It’s all I got left after that… engagement ring!

You walk a few blocks to the lobby bar at the Algonquin. Your favorite loveseat is empty. You order a couple of drinks. You hold hands in a way that keeps the ring visible.

You look at her and for the hundredth time you say, “So, I would marry you, you know.”

You grin like idiots and she says, for the hundredth time: “I would totally marry you too!”

And voila, you are engaged. Nothing to it, really.

Monique and I flew to Edinburgh, Scotland a couple weeks ago. We left late in the afternoon and arrived early the next morning. We shouldered our backpacks and spent a few hours exploring the town. Then we caught a train that headed north for five hours to a town called Fort William.

The next day was spent resting and exploring Fort William, and then the next five were spent walking 75 miles to Inverness. We followed a path called The Great Glen Way, a public footpath that generally follows the Caledonian Canal, going along Loch Lochy, Loch Oich and Loch Ness.

The first day we got a picture of the steam train that was filmed as the Hogwarts Express in Harry Potter (1st picture). The other pictures were taken along the trail - the last picture taken at the trail end in Inverness.

After spending a night in Inverness we took another 5 hour train back to Edinburgh and flew home the next morning.

As you can tell from the photos, this was an epic trip - one of the best ever!