Scenes From My Life

“Come on. Let’s go,” my brother said, leading me by the arm, out of the cavernous train station. “We don’t have time,” I argued, as he continued to lead me towards downtown Portland. “Yeah, we do,” he retorted. “And, besides, it’s close to the station.” My brother had been telling me about this doughnut shop in Portland, Oregon, for a long time. He had repeatedly promised to take me there on my next visit. My visit came and nearly went without a stop at this shop. I was supposed to catch a train to Seattle that afternoon. After I checked my luggage at the station, I had about forty five minutes before my train left. Enough time, my brother decided, to get a doughnut. I was not so sure. I was scared that I was going to miss my train. My attempts to suggest that it was not a good idea to leave the station proved futile and we were on our way to the doughnut shop. In addition to traditional doughnut flavors, this...

In March of 2004, I made a week-long trip to Arizona, for a good friend’s wedding. When I left Atlanta, temperatures had been in the high 60’s and it had been raining for days. I flew into Phoenix, where it was bright, sunny and the daytime temperatures hovered in the low-90’s. At night, it never got below 70. Following the wedding, another friend and I drove to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, where the skies were clear and daytime temperatures were in the 40’s and 50’s. At night, it dipped to near-freezing levels. Following a few more days in 90-plus degree weather in Phoenix, I returned to Atlanta. My return flight had a connection in Detroit, Michigan. The plane landed, only to be greeted by falling snow and temperatures in the low 30’s. The plane had to be de-iced before it could take off again. A few hours later, I landed in Atlanta, where it was 70 and pouring rain.

We were in search of theater tickets. That is why my friend and I had wandered from our midtown hotel to the South Street Seaport, at the southern tip of Manhattan. Considering that New York’s Theater District is in midtown, our being at the opposite end of the city may seem odd. But, we had gone to the Seaport to buy tickets. TKTS, a discount ticket retailer, had a reputation for having very long lines at its Times Square location. In my pre-travel planning, I had read that there was a second booth at the Seaport with considerably longer lines. And, so, hoping for a faster experience, my friend and I were in search of the Seaport TKTS booth. My friend had grown up in a town just outside of New York and was quite familiar with Manhattan. She was not especially familiar with the Seaport TKTS booth, but knew its general location. We had wandered down Broadway, through the financial district, and were nearing the waterfront. We looked around the area for the famili...