Lights… Action.

How do you figure?  I’ll never know.

cityline haylev reindeer

ptyess treeeish

Another fine day in NYC.

As the old song goes…  “Up! Up with people!  You meet ‘em wherever you go!”

And, here in the Big Apple, you sure do meet them.  There are a gazillion of those people here. From all different walks of life.  Not only do you meet them, they’ll bump right into you.

Nonetheless.

We started the day with breakfast here in the hotel.  The folks who frequent this place, come from a different lifestyle that I know.  Like, the family at the table next to us were in the circles of the political world, media outlets, the producers of CNN, and such. The little 7 year old girls had met Hilary Clinton at a a restaurant recently.  They were learning French.  I was learning Pig Latin when I was 7.

From there were headed down to the area of Rockefeller Center again.  Shopped a little. Then…  We went to Radio City Music Hall to see the Rockettes  perform their Holiday Extravaganza.  It had its delightful moments. And I am glad that I can say  I have seen the Rockettes in NYC.   But.  I don’t need to have a steady diet of it.   The crowd was very diverse… but everyone was there for the same reason.

We made the long cold walk back from Radio City to the Carlyle.  About 25 blocks or so.  On a warmer, calmer day, it would have been just fine.  We were pretty chilled to the bone by the time we got back.

And tonight, we took a Dinner-Boat-Cruise.  We went up the Hudson River, and waved to the Statue of Liberty, and then came back again.  It was a great way to see the city at night.  But as we pulled up and round the Statue of Liberty, I couldn’t help but to think of my ancestors, who came over on such a boat in the early 1800s.  I am guessing when they saw the banks of this land… a spirit of hope arose in their hearts.  A dream of freedom was just a few hundred yards away.

As I look back on the day, and see all these people, from all walks of life, enjoying the freedom of America… I have to pause and give thanks.

I give thanks to every single person who has worked for me, and you and every other American, to have this privilege.

This privilege we call home.

And we should be ever reminded where we came from.  For most all of us… at one time or another… crossed these borders on a boat from another land.

Up with people, I say.  They’re the best kind that I know.