I have no need for another ultra lightweight down puffer jacket, but I find myself rifling through the racks of clothing at Uniqlo in SoHo, thinking about something my son asked me this morning as we were finishing up breakfast: "What are you going to do today?"
Only half-jokingly, I answer that we'll probably go to the Kith store, then the Adidas store, then the other Adidas store, and probably end up at Uniqlo. And, as sons will do, he says with a slight smirk in his voice, "Oh, yeah, because there's never anything to do in New York City."
I know he means to point out that we are in the Cultural Capital of the country, so maybe we should do something. But as I'm wandering the aisles of clothing, I realize that the reason I'm in New York City has absolutely nothing to do with what brings most tourists here. It's not the theater, the museums, or the "culture": it's my kids. And we had already managed to have a very nice breakfast with both of them at the Clinton Street Baking Company (the peach-nectarine waffle was delicious and had too much whipped cream, which is pretty much unheard of). My anti-bougie brunch daughter seemed to enjoy her lox scramble, and my vaguely minimalist son who likes bougie breakfasts seemed to like his Farmer's Breakfast, as well. (I'm pretty sure a real farmer would not have had to pay $17 for three eggs, toast, and sausage, but I get the reference.) Everything was delicious. We discussed our plans for the day over our bougie food, in this bougie establishment, among our bougie selves. My son, in for the weekend from Philadelphia, was spending the day seeing old college and high school classmates. My daughter was headed into DUMBO to start a new internship at Art In General. And then, there's us parents. Boring as ever.
My son is right, of course, we should take advantage of our time in New York and "see the sights." But what I couldn't say to him--and maybe I should have--was that my goal for the day had already been accomplished. My husband and I got to spend time with him and his sister, all four of us together. And the next highlight of my day would be dinnertime, when we would all be together again. So it didn't really matter if there were a bunch of museums nearby, or Broadway shows that some friend said I "should" see, because that's not what makes me happy. I already did what I set out to do here.
Can't wait till dinnertime.
