friendsI fell in love with Chicago, definitely. I got off the plane, and it was all I could do to not bend to the ground and kiss it, the way I'll do when I finally get to Eretz Yisrael, or maybe the next time I get to New York.
I fell in love with the sailor who was on standby while I sat and knitted, waiting 5 hours for my friends to show up. I know that's really shallow, and I've neeeeeeeeeever been 'man in uniform' crazy, but I couldn't look away from this gentlemen. I really think it could have worked out between us
. I fell in love with our hotel room. It was bigger (and nicer) than my house.
I fell more in love with Val, Dan, Em, Veronica, Bree, and Symone. I am so blessed to have these people in my life. Next year, I feel like C.I.P. will not be as intimate, since we're doubling in size. Even though it's a great group of people joining, I can't help but thank my lucky stars that this trip was with the original bunch.
I fell more in love with Anne Marie for having us over and making us dinner. After not getting to really eat the whole weekend, she was her usual amazing chef/baker and we all ate like GODS. And their apartment is gorgeous, and David remembered me (which is important, in my mind). We miss them SO much. I love that I can look at Bree and Anne Marie and not see a neon, flashing sign overhead that says PROFESSOR! PROFESSOR! Instead, I see FRIEND! or AMAZING PERSON! or MENTOR!. Feelings like that make me feel like all the money I spent at NYU was worth more. I could have gone to a million different schools, but I wouldn't have this.
I fell more in love with Natlija. Natlija is Anne Marie and David's 5 (a week away from 6) year old daughter. I cannot believe how tall she got, or how smart she is. I mean, when we got there, she sat us all down on the floor in the living room to give us a presentation. Most little kids who do that will present a sillly dance, or sing a song. Do you know what Natalija presented? A TRI-FOLD SCIENCE BOARD, ON WHICH SHE HAD A SCIENTIFIC QUERY. She actually posed the question, "Which kind of gum lasts the longest?" and then did a hypothesis, trials (2 for each kind of gum, to make sure), a summary of her results.... did I mention she's 5!?!? And she presented to a room full of elementary school teachers. We were all FLOOOOOOOOOORED. She also gave lessons about being 'FANCY'. For instance, yellow is plain, but gold is FANCY. Leather is plain, but patten leather is FANCY. Glasses are plain, but sunglasses are FANCY. She also labeled EVERYTHING we ate, or ate with. I'm sure she got SOME help spelling the word 'knives', but on her own, she was able to spell 'Veronica'. The only help she got was we told her it was verOnica.
At dinner, she decided I was her favorite, so she smushed onto the table with me to eat. And I tricked her into eating her vegetables AND I taught her a math word. I think Anne Marie was proud (she was our math teacher at NYU). I taught Natalija about estimation, and then I asked her to estimate how many bites it would take to eat her salad. She actually got the salad, and the cornbread guesses right, and was one off on the black beans.
I fell in love with the bartender at the club we wound up at. I truly feel that would have worked out better than the sailor would have. I mean, he blew me a kiss (mainly because I signed him 'thank you' after he gave me my water, and it SORTA looks like I blew him a kiss, but when I went back for a refill, he blew me one...and that's the only part of the story that matters
). It could have been PERFECT. w00t. I fell in love with conferences. My group did soooo well, and we had a big turn out considering that in the 2 other sessions, there were some big name people. I also got over my fear of public speaking just enough to participate in discussions in 2 of the different break outs (there were only 4, ours included and I HAD to speak at that one!). I thought what I was saying was really obvious, but apparently, it wasn't. Bree made a huge deal out of it. She said she was proud of me. That means a lot. I think it was good that I shared. I don't know if I'll ever be comfortable fully talking in a group like that, but I think I'm slowly starting to trust myself more. To believe that I'm not an idiot who has nothing of substance to say. During Edwin's NYCoRE presentation about the Camouflagged book, I was able to point something out I noticed, and it started this long conversation, and I got really happy that it started from something I said. I generated it. I know not EVERYTHING I say is going to be that good, or cause that much talk, but this did. Even though I don't think I did that much for my actual presentation, I did help. I WAS part of this.
