It was the third time that I had traveled to New York City to hang out with my high school (Gumberry High School, NC) classmate, friend, and distant cousin, Orentha, who lives in Chelsea. Another high school friend, Felecia, and my close friend and walking buddy, Linda, were also part of this wonderful weekend filled with great food, laughter, shopping, good music, lots of walking and so much adventure in “The BIG APPLE”. Having perfect weather on our side, Linda and I made the journey on Friday a.m. via Amtrak from DC with Felecia flying in from South Carolina the day prior!!!
We immediately charted our course to the “High Line” and then did some browsing in the Meat Packing District followed by a great Italian lunch in Chelsea. Then, topped it off with some “slamming” cupcakes to celebrate Orentha’s birthday……carrot cake, lemon cream, snicker doodle, etc. from Billy’s Cupcakes….YUMMY. Later, we ventured out to a great Friday evening of food and entertainment and continued our “trot” throughout the city.
After spending the day out and about on Saturday in Harlem and the Upper East Side, we headed back to Chelsea to get ready for yet another fun-filled evening. One thing that stood out was an extremely loud noise we heard that Saturday evening while inside getting dressed. We were worried because Orentha, being the ultimate host, had gone out to get more food and libations for us. As we were calling and texting, she walked in and we all released a huge sigh!! It wasn’t until later when we were at “The Groove” in The Village that we learned via the TV monitors that the loud noise was actually a pressure cooker bomb that had exploded only two blocks from where we were staying. Needless to say, we were in shock, but so thankful that we all were safe and away from immediate harm. We all gave praises to our Higher Power that we had been protected from what was deemed as an “act of terror”. You may recall that several people were hurt as they were merely going along their way that evening in Chelsea.
On Sunday, we had a tasty brunch and then headed out for the afternoon in Central Park. It was a beautiful day to spend time with great friends!!! The hour had then approached to return to Chelsea to prepare to depart on the late night train back to DC. We all hugged each other and said our farewells. Linda and I walked to Penn Station, boarded our train only to finally find out 1.5 hours later via the third intercom announcement that the train had been suspended due to yet another bomb found at the Trenton, NJ
station. Although we were exhausted, we felt so blessed in that we were protected yet again from harm and we had a place to return to for the night where Orentha greeted us openly and warmly with hot herbal tea. We departed the next morning back to DC still being thankful and looking forward to the next time that we would share another delightful and inspiring weekend together next year…..maybe, we’ll try the Beach this time…whatever our Higher Power puts in our way!!!