Thanksgiving 2014... Adventures in NYC!

We went to NYC for Thanksgiving this year. That was a first, I think. When I was a kid, we'd sometimes go to Long Island, where my grandparents and cousins lived, and we'd venture in to the city here and there, but we've never stayed in the city for Thanksgiving. My uncle lives in the city now, and wanted to host. My parents have a one-bedroom on the UWS, and my siblings, sister's girlfriend, Jordyn, and I stayed in three separate hotel rooms in two different hotels around the corner from their apartment.

It was a great trip. Well, it wasn't without its drama, of course... Is it even possible for a family with two members with bipolar disorder to have a several-day get together with NO drama? I doubt it! But we had some fun adventures in the city, and all craziness (literally) aside, it could have been much worse.

The drama started before we even left. On Monday evening - with plans to leave Tuesday morning - my mom informed me that my brother had decided to join us, when previously he'd said he was staying in Boston with his girlfriend. This posed the issue of how to fit everyone and everything into the car, and since my sister's girlfriend said she couldn't handle driving down with both my sister and my brother in her car (who could blame her, although my dad was upset about it because it meant we had to take another car), we ended up driving down in three cars. I'm a good long-distance driver, and parking ended up being really easy, though, so it was fine.

The weather on Wednesday was horrible - rain, mixed with heavy snow at times, maybe a little sleet here and there, and just generally yucky. So my parents and I took Jordyn to the Museum of Natural History. Apparently, the entire city had the same idea, because the place was a madhouse. Jordyn liked the butterfly exhibit the best (and I think I did, too, although I've always been a big fan of the gem room, and of the museum in general). They have this special exhibit where you walk through a butterfly enclosure, and sometimes they land on you. Well, as soon as we walked in the door, I squatted down next to Jordyn and pointed to show her a butterfly that was flying near us, and it landed on my arm. It proceeded to stay on my arm as I walked through the entire exhibit, and about 20-25 minutes later, I had to ask a staff member to help me get it off since I was ready to leave (and you weren't supposed to touch the butterflies yourself).

ETA: I almost forgot to include this story! When we were in the origin of humans area (do you already know where this is going?!), there were life-size models of early humans, maybe neanderthals, one male and one female (if you didn't already know where this was going, I bet you do now!) standing next to each other. Jordyn walked up to them, pointed to the female, and said, "'gina!" loud and clear. Remember how I said the place was a madhouse? There were quite a few witnesses to this! I said, "Yes, she does have a vagina, but that's something we talk about quietly with no yelling, please". She then proceeded to point to the male and say, "Mom, what's that?". I think she's maybe seen a penis before when another mom was changing her son's diaper, but it's been a while. So I said, "That's a penis. Boys have a penis  instead of a vagina, but that's also something we need to talk about quietly." And that was the end of it, she was off running into the next room.

Later that evening, my dad, brother, Jordyn, and I met up with my aunt and our pseudo-cousins (B, A, and S) for dinner, and then we stopped by B's office. She's an executive producer for the Late Show with David Letterman, and her office is near Times Square, which is basically where we'd had dinner. The Late Show is ending in May, and she showed us part of a slide show type thing she's working on for the last show. Her office isn't fancy, but it's pretty big, with a desk, bookshelves, a sitting area, and two huge windows with a pretty good view. Of course, I'd left Jordyn's stroller with the diaper bag downstairs with the doorman, and she chose to poop as soon as we got upstairs, so I had to go down and get a diaper and wipes so I could change her, and then of course I only had about 4 wipes left, yikes!

Jordyn's attempt at eating with chopsticks. :)

Part of B's office. She's in the blue and yellow "Late Show" jacket, with my aunt I
in the foreground, and Jordyn and S (he's 8) near the back wall. 

And after that (wait, the day's not over yet??), my dad and I took Jordyn to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade floats blown up and netted down, ready for the parade the next morning. In the cold, rainy, snowy night, WAY past her bedtime. She enjoyed it, though, and it was something neither my dad nor I had done before, so it was an adventure for all of us. The first time she saw a balloon, she said "bouncy house!" and I had to explain to her that they were not, in fact, bouncy houses, and we couldn't even touch them, much less jump on them! The balloons were mostly kind of lying down with netting over them to hold them down, so I told Jordyn they were "sleeping" so they'd be ready for the parade the next day. 

Selfie

It was almost impossible to get her to look at the camera.

I think Jordyn went to sleep somewhere around 10:30, which became pretty much the norm for the whole trip, with a night or two even later! She did pretty well, though, sleeping in in the morning (the hotel had great blackout shades!) and taking long naps. This way, even though she's now totally off her schedule, she was able to experience all kinds of new, fun things and I didn't have to sit in a dark hotel room from 8:30 on each night.

The next morning, my parents, Jordyn and I went to the parade itself. It was kind of ridiculous, since the view is SO much better on tv, but my dad was really into taking Jordyn (as was I, kinda), and my mom had never been, so off we went. We ended up at Columbus Circle, where the parade makes a left turn, and we were on the opposite corner, so kind of far away. We couldn't really see anything on the ground like the marching bands, but we could kind of see the floats. Every time Jordyn saw a float coming, she pointed at it and said, "He just woke up!", usually at least several times. This was a carry-over from me having told her the balloons were "sleeping" the night before!

Such a sense of wonder!

You can kind of see a pumpkin float in the background.

Profile-ish of Jordyn watching the Spiderman float go by.

Happy girl!

After a nap (for all of us, I think!), it was time for a shower and off to my uncle's place for Thanksgiving dinner. There was drama at dinner, of course. How could there not be? My sister had called someone (I forget who, my uncle? my mom?) and said she wasn't coming to dinner. And then her girlfriend T showed up without her, but then was on the phone with her, and then she ended up showing up, late. She was totally manic - and I mean full-blown mania with psychotic symptoms. She'd shown up at my uncle's apartment at 5am that morning, "mad as a hatter" as he put it. She'd brought him flowers, and started telling him all kinds of random shit that made no sense, like that our great-grandfather (who I don't think we ever even knew) was to blame for all kinds of things happening now. My uncle made her leave because he wanted to go back to sleep, so then she'd shown up at my parents' apartment at 7am, and ended up sleeping on the couch for a few hours.
Anyway, at dinner, we went around the table saying what we're thankful for. My sister ended up going last, and while the rest of us had said the usual stuff like our family, our friends, our health, etc., she did hers totally silently. First, she passed two pictures around the table for everyone to see. They were pics of friends of hers who got married recently, and she was part of the wedding. She gave no explanation whatsoever. Then she started handing out a stack of books around the table, and these were books about things like the Indigo children, and all kinds of weird, "out there" spiritualism type things. She wasn't giving us the books to keep, more like to read them and give them back. At least, I think. Honestly, I have no idea! Again, there was no explanation. And then she started handing out candy bars (like anyone wants a candy bar at the end of Thanksgiving dinner!), all Israeli brands. Around this point, someone else started to say something, and she said, "I'm not finished!", and proceeded to stand up and start signing. Yes, sign language. We're all sitting there watching her, but have no idea what she's saying. I said something like, "we need a translation", and she pointed at me repeatedly, with a look on her face as though I was supposed to give the translation, but I had no idea what she was signing, and I said so. Finally, she started singing - she was signing a Hebrew song that we'd learned in sign language, years ago, at summer camp. So even if I'd recognized the song she was signing, it's in Hebrew, and none of us knows what the words mean! She was completely loony tunes.

Somehow, I managed to not get a decent pic of Jordyn in her dress. Most of my pics of her from that night are when she was playing with her cousin S, and aunt I and my dad, and I and my dad were swinging her upside down, which she loves!

Please don't report child abuse - she was laughing hysterically! 

Some of the group at my uncle's place. My sister is the one sitting down on the far left.

Some of us walked back to where we were staying after dinner. For those in the know, my uncle lives on Frederick Douglas Blvd between 113th and 114th, I believe, and were staying on Broadway between 94th and 95th. Can I just say that Jordyn walked almost that entire way?! And she ran some of it! She was totally wired, and loves to walk, and just had a great time with it, even though she fell down a few times when running, due to the uneven sidewalks and being so exhausted. I think she was up til 11:00 that night!

That night, my sister's girlfriend knocked on my parents' door at 2:30am (or some other middle-of-the-night hour), and said she was sorry for waking them up,  but she didn't know what else to do. She was at her wit's end. She said my sister was downstairs, so my mom put on her coat and went down. My sister was talking the doorman's ear off, and he later told my mom she'd said that T had hit her on her face. We don't think that's true (although we have no way of knowing for sure), because my mom said there was absolutely no mark on her face. T left, and my mom tried to get my sister to go upstairs and sleep on the couch again, but she refused, and then also left. Later, T texted my mom that she'd talked my sister into going back to Boston early (they were supposed to stay until today, too), "next stop [psych hospital]". But when my sis realized she was on the way to the hospital, she grabbed the steering wheel and tried to turn it (hello, harm to self or others much?!). So T took her home and they slept for a while, and then T somehow talked her into going to the hospital later. So that's where she is, as of sometime on Friday.

Anyway... back to the fun in NYC!

For Friday, I'd made plans with one of Jordyn's donor sib's families that we met back in September (I know, I need to post about that weekend - it was great!!) to get together. They live about an hour outside of Philly, but they were in NJ at one of their parents' house for Thanksgiving. So, they drove in to the city on Friday and we hung out at my parents' apartment for a while and then went to lunch. We had tentatively planned to go the Children's Museum of Manhattan, but didn't end up having enough time.

M and Jordyn - donor sibs!

Having fun in the mirror behind out booth in the restaurant. 

That evening, my parents, brother, Jordyn, and I had dinner with my aunt I, and then my brother, aunt I, and I went to see a show. My uncle and my parents invested in a new Broadway show called "Honeymoon in Vegas". My uncle (as an associate producer) was able to get two comp tickets and one at a discount, so the three of us were able to go. My parents haven't seen it yet, but want to wait until the "real" opening in January - it's currently in previews. It was fantastic!! If anyone has the chance, I highly recommend seeing it. It's funny, a musical with great music, and a cute story (based on a movie with the same name). After dinner, my parents took Jordyn for a walk through Times Square, since we hadn't been able to really show her much of it yet, and then my mom put her down and stayed in the hotel room until I got back.

That night was rough for me. I'd had a hard time deciding what to order for dinner that night, and clearly made the wrong choice, as I ended up in the bathroom at 1:30am. Let's just say my entire dinner - and I believe also at least some of my lunch - came back out the way it had gone in. :( NO fun! And I'll add that my post-childbirth body made me pretty much pee in my pants simultaneously. The bright side is that Jordyn slept through the entire ordeal, and I guess also that I felt somewhat better afterwards. But I barely slept - before or after. I tossed and turned the entire night. The hotel bed kinda sucked, and the pillows were awful, but I slept better the other nights than I did on Friday night.

Which meant Saturday was kind of a dud. It was all I could do to shower myself and Jordyn once she woke up and get us over to the apartment. My parents and I were going to take Jordyn to the Children's Museum since we hadn't made it the day before, but I felt like crap and had no energy, so we ended up not doing much of anything most of the day. We hung around the apartment. Aunt I came over for a little while, my mom and aunt I took Jordyn for a walk to a store or two, and then my dad took her out for a slice of pizza for lunch. I rested and napped a little on the couch, and was so grateful for the help! Jordyn and I went back to the hotel for a nap (after which I felt somewhat better), and to get ready for the evening's festivities.

My uncle got married at the beginning of November! It was a non-event at the courthouse, to his boyfriend of 2+ years, but was kind of to help him become a citizen. His husband is from Italy, and didn't have a green card. My uncle never would have done this for just anyone - they ARE an actual couple and DO love each other - but my uncle has just never been the marrying type. But, since he does love his husband, he decided to do this for him to help him out. So, they'd planned a little party/wedding reception for themselves on Saturday night. It was at a very cool restaurant in the meat-packing district (which isn't really the meat-packing district anymore but is still called that) called Spice Market, in a little private room that seats 23 or so. Very funky and grown-up! My 8-year-old cousin S stayed home with a babysitter, but since I'd never arranged for anything for Jordyn and my uncle said it was ok, she came to the party. And she did GREAT! My dad took her on several walks upstairs - including a tour of the kitchen after making friends with the head kitchen guy!, and dancing in the bar area (not that anyone else was!) - and S's mom A played with her on her iPhone for a while, and she watched a few minutes of a video on my iPad at one point, but she did such a great job and hung in there til the end (not crazy-late, around 10:00).

Going on a tour of the kitchen!

Absolutely LOVING the dessert (some sort of chocolate-ginger s'mores)!
It was REALLY good - I absolutely loved it, too!  

We had a slow start on Sunday, due to another late night on Saturday, and Jordyn and I had an interesting conversation while lying in bed after we woke up. We talked about the party the night before, and that it was to celebrate uncle D and D (they have almost the same name) getting married. We talked about how some grown ups get married, and some don't. That sometimes when two grown-ups love each other very much, they get married, and that maybe she would get married when she's a grown up, and maybe she won't. That led to how a mother loving her daughter is a different kind of love than the love when two people get married, and how we don't marry our family members even though we love them. Ha! Well, I think she got something out of it.

Jordyn and I checked out of the hotel and my dad helped me bring all our stuff around the corner to the apartment, where we slept Sunday night. We went to lunch at B, A, and S's apartment, and then to a play called Mummenschanz on the NYU campus to which my cousin A got us student-priced tickets. It was a weird show, but very family-friend and Jordyn actually liked it. She hadn't napped and the show was at nap time, so I was worried, but she did great and again really hung in there. She fell asleep in the stroller on the way back to B, A, and S's apartment, which was my plan. A gave me some hand-me-down things from S; not clothes, but things like books, DVDs, a skuut bike, a travel toddler blow-up bed, etc. Jordyn promptly used the blow-up bed that night at the apartment, but it had a slow leak and she joined me on the pull-out couch after she ended up on the hard floor at 4am.

My brother, who was mostly ok (as ok as he gets, I guess) during the trip, seemed to have forgotten to take his meds on Sunday. He was definitely "out there" and at least somewhat manic. Overall, he's very quiet, and very "flat", but at least he's sane! But Sunday he drove me crazy, and I think some others, too. He didn't go back to B, A, and S's with us after the play, and my mom was worried about him being on his own in NYC and having to get back uptown by himself, but he did ok. His brain is just so fried from being so manic for so long, so many times (at least, that's my mom's theory). When we went to the show on Friday, he thought it was over when it was intermission...

Today, Monday, we finally drove back to Boston. We had a mostly-great trip! Jordyn has a cold, and boy do I need a vacation!