The Last Fling: the Ultimate New York Escape - A Personal Journal

In our salad days, we had all lived in New York: I lived there in the 70's, and Haddon and Katie, my son and 7-month-pregnant daughter-in-law, lived there for two years before they were married. Katie attended Union Theological Seminary and Haddon worked in sound design off-Broadway. Though they met in Boston they were married in NYC. They have a history with this city, as do I. I lived in New York for 11 years, growing from a teenager to a moderately mature person, cutting my teeth in the travel writing industry. Though we all left the city years ago, its energy is still in our blood, and we feel we are returning home – at least for a few days.

"It was our last fling before our baby is born,” said Katie, “and all of our NYC friends could come and see us so easily. Just take any train headed for Times Square (which is pretty much all of them) and they'd be with us in no time at all.”

Katie will be 30 years old this year. She is also 7 months pregnant. There are a lot of beginnings and endings with this birthday: the beginning of a new life, and the beginning of their new lives as parents. With that, the ending of their carefree newlywed lives, being able to go to a movie whenever they wanted, go out to eat, go anywhere really. After the baby is born, the "let's-go-here!!" life must be planned out, starting in April when he or she is due. We do not know the baby’s gender – but we do know he or she is a dancing person – kicking up his or her heels most of the last trimester.

The temporal frame around which our lives again mingled was about three days. They came from Atlanta, I came from Tucson. We stayed at one of the Ultimate Escapes residences – one that was exceptional in décor and in location. Though I have stayed at many destination club and fractional residences, I had never stayed in a New York destination club residence where the location trumped everything, but this one did -- a block from Times Square. This Ultimate residence was spacious and beautiful -- a great living room, two bedrooms, a dining and kitchen area. And the view? We looked directly out onto two giant, colorful Broadway billboards. Below us was Broadway – and two blocks away, was Will Ferrell playing President Bush. What could be better? For us, nothing. "The apartment felt both cozy and spacious. It easily accommodated 20 of our friends” added Haddon, “but also felt just right for three of us, sipping wine and looking out over the city. The virtual driving range and golf course was a hit as well, and access to the gym and rooftop observation deck added a more playful element to our stay"

But wait! Things get better. Katie's small birthday celebration was to occur the next evening. I had told our wonderful Destination Host, Reed, there would be a few people coming to Katie's 30th, but a few more (!!) than 10 came – friends from Boston, Jersey City, Brooklyn, all came to see Katie and Haddon again – catching up with what was past, as well as wishing them well on their future journey. It was great to see them both so happy. Rarely do you see your children in their 30's, satsified with everything – the perfect residence, their favorite city and location, great food, great friends. Priceless!

We were again so grateful for the time and space to be together. It may have felt like their last pre-parenthood fling, but I sensed it would be the first of many flings, to be enjoyed even more as that dancing baby becomes an inquisitive toddler.