Teeth White (the Staves) and Clair de Lune, L.32 (Debussy)

These two songs playing almost simultaneously when I woke up last Monday morning, my first day with Rocket. It was pouring outside and Moritz was kind enough to pick me up at the Hampton Inn for the short drive to our orientation and then to the facility. We got a hard hat tour and even while the metal studs and drywall were going up, it was clear that it will be a really nice facility. But in the meantime, the 11 or so employees there are confined to a construction trailer squatting in the muddy parking lot. I took a NJ Transit train back to New York with the impressive Paul Yarabe and made my way through a crowded Penn Station to the subway. When I emerged onto 3rd St at Washington Sq., the rain had become so torrential that I had to get under a grocery store awning to wait out the worst of the downpour. And then, finally, I was in the AirBnB, a fifth-floor walkup at 40 Macdougal St. The following days were an exhilarating and exhausting blur, especially because I had to burn some midnight oil to re-write their facility qualification plan. But it was incredibly cool to have an access badge to the Empire State Building. Even when clouds shrouded the 75th floor, it was impossible to get used to the view, the skyline changing dramatically with with each passing hour, never quite the same, just like the colors changing on a Great Lake. On Thursday morning, the sun was finally out, clear and cold, so I decided to walk to work. After stopping to pick up some breakfast, I laughed out loud to myself as I crossed 33rd St on the way into the ESB lobby, happy in my work for a change.

When I woke up in our own bed on Saturday morning, it was quiet. I took the puppy into Miller Woods and we had the whole place to ourselves. Crossing Miller back to the house, there wasn’t a single car coming in either direction. The contrast to Manhattan could not have been more stark, and I realized it was different, but not better than Ann Arbor. And that was even before Framily Christmas. On the way there, Andi said she was noticing more and thankful for more of what she observed and it was definitely the same for me. A good condition to strive for, even when not moving.