Ep. 41: This, Our Daily Bread

Olivia Luz, our little princess was born two weeks ago tomorrow.
She is merely one of my many daily blessings.

Lately, almost all of my one hour of "free" time has been spent playing semi-mindless WWF during my daily commute to work.

I'd word-whittle my time away on the return trip too, but these days I'm almost always the guy with a little drool sliding down the side of my snore-hole.

The first true love of my life, writing, has had to take a back seat to juggling two babies, a manor-of-a-home, a happy marriage, a blended family made of rambunctious boys, and my evolving 9-to-5 (i.e., there is no such thing as job security anymore, adapt to the culture of "constant improvement" and reorgs, or - be ready to fill that cardboard box).

I'm writing now because this catharsis is long overdue. No complaints apart from the fact that I don't have time to pen my thoughts, share my observations and express my appreciation for all the wonderful little things that fulfill my days.

As I told Margarita yesterday whilst shoveling in my last scoop of her heavenly Posole, "As veces, estoy en la oficina y me pregunto 'Porque estoy aquí?' Entonces regreso a casa, a mi familia y cenas maravillosas como esta-y recuerdo."

"Sometimes, I'm in the office and I ask myself 'Why am I here?' Then I return to my home and family, and wonderful meals like this and I remember."

Ep. 1: Introducing...The Peekskill Commuter

Wednesday, March 13, 2013:

As I walked down the steep and curvy grade of Requa at 7:25 this morning and eventually came upon the horde gathering on the train platform, I smiled, thinking, “So, these are my new neighbors.”

I immediately imagined introducing myself in a memorable way, “Hi, I’m running for mayor of this here town.” Alas, my little fantasy never fruitioned and like the rest of the herd, I simply plowed forward upon the platform, trying to decide what would be the optimal place to be when the train arrived.

As anticipated, the ride was uneventful. It was quiet, as most of my fellow commuters either read the paper, scrolled through their Kindles or snoozed.

Today is my first day of my commute from Peekskill, my new hometown. It’s a quaint little town with almost 9,000 homes and over 5,000 families. Former New York Governor George Pataki grew up here; Mel Gibson, Paul “Pee Wee Herman” Reubens and Stanley Tucci all were born here; Jackie Gleason retired here; and L. Frank Baum, author of The Wizard of Oz, was inspired by the “yellow brick road” he had to walk every day to the military academy that was here for 135 years, before the New York Jets took over the campus to use as their summer training camp.

Formerly, an early American industrial center, Peekskill is now a blossoming hotspot for Manhattan couples who are eager to find a safe, quiet and yet exciting spot to raise a family. 

That’s why were here now.

With four boys in tow and a little princess along the way, we made our move and bought a 12 room Victorian on Smith Street.

And that’s why I’m commuting today. Although it means that I must wake up at least an hour earlier every day now, I sincerely aim to make the most of it.

For instance, coming out of Grand Central Station like bees from a hive, I was fascinated by the rivers of people streaming downtown via Park Avenue.

Vying for a little exercise, I tried to keep up with the sprite young girl with the turquoise sports jacket, a  pony tail and water bottle in hand at first, but then latched on to the guy with the blue shirt and backpack, once I lost her.

I was happy to see that I passed a fruit stand along the way as well, and fully intend to make it a pit stop from now on, so that I can fill the wooden bowl that has been sitting empty at my office window for the last six months.

And although every day for the last two weeks has been a workout consisting of packing and lifting and moving heavy boxes almost every night until midnight, I am genuinely happy that I have to live out of the them for the next couple of weeks until we are fully settled in.

Lorenzo

AKA The Peekskill Commuter

p.s. Watch this new CBS Toni On! New York video clip about Peekskill. Just scroll down the page and click on the first video screen. We are looking forward to visits from all our family and good friends this summer.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=8593642