NYC will never be the same...
If I could give a piece of advice to anyone in the world, it would be to steer clear of high schoolers! What in world made me agree to take a group of kids from the bayou all the way to New York City? As Karen can probably tell you, I was a cynical mess for most of the trip. I have never been happier to leave NYC.
To start things off, I mistakenly left my wallet in the van. I noticed it was missing not even five minutes after my sister had left from dropping us off at the airport. I tried calling her cell phone, but she had given it to her freaking fiancé, thus leaving me with no credit cards or driver’s license. Thankfully, I was able to sweet talk the lovely people at JetBlue (the BEST airline I’ve ever flown, btw) into letting me board. Sure, I had to go through a special line and be thoroughly searched-too bad they insisted it be a woman to perform the search-but at least I made it to NYC. And, thankfully, I remembered just in the nick of time that my cousin was coming up on Thursday. My sister was on the way to FedEx when I called and told her not to worry about overnighting my stuff. That saved about thirty bucks.
Now, I could go on forever about just how ridiculous the kids were, but why waste my breath. Let’s just say they spent the most time-and money-in the mall. Did they shop at stores like Century 21, H&M, or Forever 21, the ones we do not have in Louisiana? Of course not! They spent their money at Foot Locker, Old Navy and a bunch of other stores that are at every mall in the country. *shaking head*
The highlight of their trip was being on TV outside the Today Show with Al Roker. Because of our trusty Tivo, they will all eventually get a tape of their three seconds of fame. They also really enjoyed Madame Trussaud’s Wax Museum. I won’t lie, I had a blast! But we had to rush through it, so I’ll have to go back the next time I’m in NYC.
Oh, and the kids just loved their first Broadway show: Chicago. They boys really loved it. From the first skimpy outfit to take the stage, they were riveted. Now, as for the shows I saw…well, I think I have to save that for another post. Once the kiddies were put to bed, it was my turn for fun!
To my utter disappointment, on Saturday night-the first night they truly had to roam around Times Square at night-half of the kids chose to stay at the hotel and play cards. WTF? That’s right. Shake your heads. Drop your jaws in astonishment. It’s like I always say, you can take the kid out of {insert name of my little backwater town}, but you can’t take {backwater town} out of the kid.
Yet, all was not lost. Seeing the wonder and excitement on the faces of the few kids who truly appreciated the trip made it all worth it. One boy, who said visiting New York and California are his life-long dreams, thanked me profusely. From the minute we landed at JFK, he was a ball of excitement. Knowing he would have never been able to afford the trip on his own made it even more special.
So, I guess in the end, I’m happy I was a part of it. Uh…kinda. LOL.