Anticipation

I leave for Brooklyn tomorrow! It is only supposed to rain for one day, on Wednesday. I'm truly blessed that my child actually welcomes the time we spend together and we've done it often enough now that we know how to give each other space and communicate our needs. I'm packed and ready to go, watered my plants, took out the trash, emptied the fridge. Set up a USPS account to have my mail held. No kitties to feed for the first time in nineteen years (seventeen for Leo and two for Smokey). That feels strange.

All during the lockdown over the past fourteen months I had not eaten out or ordered food to be delivered. Saved lots of money and got wildly bored with my own cooking. Since I am fully vaccinated now, it feels OK to venture into restaurants, although I'm still eating outside, exclusively. I have been craving Korean fried chicken, and on my walk today, I had planned to stop at the Bon Chon location (part of a chain) that's about ten minutes from home. I turned down a block I usually don't walk on, and saw that there was a haircut place with nobody waiting, so I stopped to get about five inches of pandemic hair lopped off--it was looking so dry and crispy. I had forgotten my wallet (!) but the kind woman who cut my hair just went ahead and cut it anyway, and I dashed back home to get it (more exercise!) My hair has changed a lot in the last few years, and it makes me kind of sad, but I guess I get to practice acceptance of aging.

At Bon Chon they told me I'd have to wait twenty minutes so I put in my order and walked around the corner to Spats' bar where I though I'd get a cold drink. It turns out that they are the new location for Smoke BBQ, so on an impulse I ended up getting a BBQ pork sandwich (the "burnt ends" of pork belly, yum) with some garlicy cole slaw and iced tea. I ate sitting outside and took the leftovers (most of it) and the KFC home. I will freeze the fried chicken (yes, you can, I looked it up), and eat the rest of the sando tonight, along with the pickled daikon from Bon Chon. I also got a piece of sweet potato pie for breakfast tomorrow before I go to the airport. It's going to be a long travel day. I get picked up at 6:30 to get to the airport by 7:30, for my 9AM flight. Then it's about five and a half hours, and I get to decide if I want to wrestle my suitcase onto the three-stage subway ride from JFK, or splurge on a cab. I'm tempted to get the cab because the government gave me some free money and I will not have to pay for a hotel  since my daughter moved into a new apartment and now has a sofa-bed for guests. I'm so used to being a champion frugalista that it feels wrong to spend good money on a cab when I could just jam myself, my backpack and my luggage into three different subway cars. The up side of aging: treat yourself!