Curry in a hurry

This morning, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful day and head up to Central Park. Unfortunately, so did everyone else in the City. We thought we might stop by the new playground over by Columbus Circle, roll over for a quick visit at the zoo, then maybe play in the grass a bit before heading home.

This is what happened instead: we entered the park at Columbus Circle, Reilly crying her eyes out. She kept up the crying even as we made it to the playground. Shawn tried to nurse her, but she didn’t want that either. So, we decided to walk toward the zoo to see if the baby would calm down. The walk to the zoo was a nightmare. There were so many people in the park, probably the most I’ve seen since the Gates came to the City. We did eventually make it to the zoo, but the line to get in was at least 100 feet long. Shawn rolled the stroller right on by without even asking me. She didn’t have to.

Around the corner from the zoo, we saw a rarity in the park on a day like today—two open benches in the shade. You see, with the trees still mostly bare in the park, the sun was really beating down on us. To find shade and a seat was to find solace. We parked the stroller, Reilly fell asleep, and Shawn and I just sat in silence for a few minutes.

The combination of the baby’s incessant crying, the crowds, and the sun had created one of those environments where most couples start taking out their discomfort on each other. Shawn and I were on the cusp of that very same argument, but knowing each other well, we just automatically fell into a quiet period so that we could calm and reorder ourselves.

A few minutes later, I put my arm over Shawn’s shoulder. She smiled up at me. The cloud had passed.

We killed time while Reilly napped by counting how many people were passing us. The average came out to 1.5 people per second, at a 2:1 ratio of adult to child. Busy. Later, Cindy, Seth, and Cindy B. stopped by. They were in the park on a bike ride, and rolled over to our location to say hi and check out Reilly.

After they left and Reilly had a little snack, I turned to Shawn and said, “Let’s get the f*** out of here.” She nodded and we battled our way through the other parents and strollers to the sidewalk at 67th Street and 5th Avenue. We caught a 6 train at Hunter College to Union Square. Still wanting to recover what was left of our day, we walked over to Olives at the W Hotel for some wine and cheese.

The wine and cheese saved the day. Not because the wine was cold or that the cheese was fresh—though they were—but because we had a celebrity sighting of one of our favorite TV personalities: Ann Curry of the Today Show. She sat right next to us. She ordered a Mojito. We were happy.