The city that never sleeps

Matt and I had the opportunity to go to New York City over the weekend, and with both of us needing to experience life at a different pace, we took advantage of it!

For me, it was the second time visiting NYC, and for him, it was the first. We felt compelled to make the trip after we learned that Matt's brother would be giving his first performance at Carnegie Hall, in the midst of working on a doctorate degree in piano performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Can you imagine, performing a piano solo at Carnegie Hall?!? We wouldn't miss it for the world!

So, we packed our bags, got our fuzzy companion settled in at a puppy resort, and boarded the plane for New York City. It was a quick trip, in late Friday night and out by Monday afternoon, but we made the most of it.

In the two days that we spent in Manhattan, we visited the Museum of Modern Art, dined in Rockefeller Center, saw the Phantom of the Opera at The Majestic, traversed Times Square, met my cousin and his girlfriend for dinner followed by a show at the Comedy Cellar, took in a 3-hour-long concert in Carnegie Hall, strolled through Central Park and zipped to the top of the Empire State Building.

A New York Minute
While the pace of New York City was challenging, it was also surprisingly refreshing.


Knowing how fast the city moves, I had been nervous in the weeks leading up to the trip. New York City is not exactly my perfect vacation destination. When I get away from it all, I like to head for the wilderness, as far from civilization as my car can take me. I prefer being surrounded by lakes and forests, and being bombarded by the sounds of crashing waves and chirping birds, over being surrounded by skyscrapers and shopping malls, and being bombarded by the sounds of dump trucks and car horns.

Of course, cities like NYC offer their own genre of a getaway, so I buckled down and made plans to see the Big Apple with my man.

Upon arrival, we were immediately met with a cab driver in a black taxi who practically hustled us into his car and overcharged us for the trip to the hotel. With barely a second's thought, he whisked us away to the island of Manhattan, where we would stay for the entire trip.

Skyscrapers reaching out toward space, swarms of people crowding the crosswalks and yellow cabs everywhere! Here we were, in the city that never sleeps. We kept our obligations low and our ambitions high, and we did our best to get in step with the city beat.

That meant quickly interpreting the thick accents of the diverse hospitality staff, walking with a rapid city swagger, and hailing cabs in the middle of dimly lit streets. It meant calculating street numbers like math equations, walking with eyes turned up and down simultaneously, and darting out of the way whenever we had to rethink a route.

Time passed so fast with every single minute of the day that we lost track of the time constantly. We didn't miss a beat, but we also had no idea how late it was when our nights began to slow, giving way to thoughts of bed and sleep. Presumably, that's why they call it a New York Minute, which contains more in a mere 60 seconds than I ever dreamed possible.

Keeping pace with each New York Minute had a magical effect for Matt and I. Lost in the movement of the city, we were suddenly laughing, smiling and telling jokes. We had traveled far from our problems and we were completely swept up in the city's majesty. I felt like myself again, and we looked at each other with the youth and spirit that we remember from our college days. Together in the Big Apple, we were young again!

Kevin Performs at Carnegie Hall
By the time we made it to Carnegie Hall on Sunday, we were exhausted! But we were grateful for the chance to rest our feet in a concert hall and find a reprieve from the honking cabs outside. And we were so excited for the concert, we were nearly jumping with joy in spite of ourselves.

Matt's younger brother, Kevin, was chosen to open a benefit concert for the Adamant Music School at Carnegie Hall. In the Weill Recital Hall, he performed "Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue in B Minor" by J.S. Bach, and the music was stunning!

I think it was an emotional experience for all three of us, as Kevin appeared to be very affected by the music he was playing on the piano, and Matt and I were overcome with happiness and pride. Matt's reaction was especially touching — his brotherly expression during the performance said so much! And he could not stop smiling all morning, despite our lack of sleep.

After the concert, which was filled with beautiful performances by more than a dozen people, Matt and I insisted on meeting Kevin later to take him to the top of the Empire State Building. When we met him at the Heartland bar and grill on Fifth Avenue that night, we also met a few of the other piano masters who had performed earlier in the day.

After making acquaintances somewhat hurriedly, we swept Kevin away to make the trip to the Observation Deck on the 86th Floor. We walked through the entire Empire State Building with no lines, and ventured out on the deck at nearly midnight to see New York City in lights!

Modern Art and Umberto Boccioni
The most memorable part of the trip for me, aside from dining in Rockefeller Plaza, was touring the Museum of Modern Art. Here, Matt and I saw so many beautiful masterpieces, but we were also quite unexpectedly reunited with our grief.

Our goal had been to find the galleries displaying impressionist and expressionist art, and when we found them, we were greeted by the masters: Picasso, Pollock and Van Gogh among others. We even saw the original painting of Van Gogh's "Starry Night"!

We were also taken with the sheer beauty of some of the futurism and cubism paintings. One in particular caught my eye for its sunning use of color and the radiant beams cutting through the image. Turning to the description, I learned that this painting by Umberto Boccioni was called "Dynamism of a Soccer Player," and it portrayed the movement of a single soccer player as his legs shuffled on the field.

Suddenly, I was caught in the crossfire of several powerful emotions, as they all came rushing in. Being so drawn to the artwork in the first place, the knowledge of the soccer player gave me a strong connection to the piece. It was beautiful, in colors that were bright and soft at the same time, like a cross between a hot summer day and a wispy dream. And the beams of light that reached down from the corners of the canvas to illuminate the image were simply radiant.

I felt at once that I was meant to see this painting in New York City in the spring, that the twins were right there with me, that they never really left and that somehow they were happy. I also felt a huge rush of grief and sadness for my life without them, but each time I turned my eyes back on the painting, I felt a calmness come over me.

Between this piece, a series of paintings called "States of Mind" and a bronze sculpture entitled "Continuity in Space," Umberto Boccioni led me through a journey in the Museum of Modern Art that was more dramatic than any I have ever experienced.

In this way, the trip was at once provoking, enlightening and redeeming. It was also deeply therapeutic.