Ep. 9: Do what Nancy says - don't do it

Peekskill Station at dawn.

Friday, March 22, 2013

The passengers on the 7:06 seem a bit sleepier than those that board half an hour later.

I was certainly more tired than usual this Thursday morning, something I will need to get used to from now on.

Later in the day I would try to sleep during a town hall meeting, watching the gratuitous PowerPoint presentation with one eye open.

Every Wednesday, until Kingdom comes, I'll be getting up at 6 to catch this train to Grand Central. This will allow me to jet out of the office early enough to catch a bus out of Port Authority to Jersey to have my regular mid-week dinner with The Boys. 

Then I'll have to get on the Lakeland commuter bus— a rather depressing part of this routine that I've been doing for years.

Usually, I have to wait at least half an hour for the bus to come and half the time it is late just as long. Also, for half the year I have to wait in the cold, heat, rain and snow—alone. You might imagine how ugly it feels to be in this position week after week after week.

For about a year or so now, half of the time Chelsea has graciously driven out from Manhattan or Westchester where she works, with our other two sons, so that we could have a quick family dinner with all the boys.

However, now with the move an hour north of the city, the drive has proven too cumbersome and starting next week I'll be back to standing on the corner, waiting, alone.

After boarding the bus, riding past the wasteland of the Meadowlands and that billion dollar disaster of a development—the Xanadu-cum-American Dream project —and arriving back at PA, I'll have to jump on the subway to Grand Central and then wait for the next hour-long train back to Peekskill. 

As half of the once-married parents in this country may attest, divorce is a bitch when you've got young kids. 

My advice, don't do it.

The passengers on the 7:06 seem a bit sleepier.