A New X-Men

A couple of Saturdays ago, around 9:00am, I sat on the couch in the living room and typed reports for work.  I randomly began to hear whistles, followed by a soft banging, coming from the opposite end of our long hallway.  Every few minutes, a bell rang.  The noises continued for about 25 minutes.  I assumed children were playing in the hallway and their dad was attempting to control them by whistling (seemed plausible).

After almost 30 minutes of noise, I became highly annoyed.  I threw on a pair of shoes and walked down the hallway.  When I reached the elevator, I heard my name.  I turned and saw that my superintendent was stuck in the elevator and had been for the past two hours!

Again, that darn elevator.

The door was ajar about six inches and my super and I looked at each other in disbelief.  What do we do? I asked.  Push it open, he said.

Push open the steel door of an elevator?  Yeah, right.

But, somehow, I mustered a superhuman sort of strength (that or the door is more aluminum than steel) and slid my arm through the crack.  Carlos and I pushed with all of our strength and...

Surprise! Who knew I had it in me?  I knew I was tough, but destroying an elevator door is a completely new level of strength.  Carlos enthusiastically thanked me.  I dusted off my hands.  No big deal.  Just being a good tenant.

Up in the Air

Love on the Highline.

It's All Relative

Yesterday, I took my camera to school to get some end-of-the-year pictures.  I snapped pictures of two little boys that I work with each week.  They were dressed so snappily and were in such a silly mood that I couldn’t help but capture the moment.

They eagerly requested to see their pictures.  I showed them, and as I scrolled through their photo shoot I happened to scroll back too far and stopped on a picture of Ben and I. 

“Wait!” they cried.

“What?” I said.

“Who’s that?” they asked, pointing to Ben.

“Who do you think that is?” I responded.

In unison and without hesitation, they declared… “Your DAD!”

Ha, ha… ha, ha, ha, ha… ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!

I won’t tell Ben that one.

Miracle on the Upper West Side

The unusually hot weather of the past two weeks surprised Ben and I.  We assumed we had a few more weeks of cool temperatures before needing an air conditioner in the bedroom.  Oops, we were wrong.

Apparently, the gods doomed us to live summer 2010 all over again.

Last year, we slept on an air mattress in the living room for months because that was the only room with an air conditioner.  We vowed to never do that again.  Except, somehow, we were doing it again.

I frantically searched Craigslist for used AC units that fit through the wall because a new unit costs around $500.  Five hundred dollars!  Insanity.  I mean, I’ll pay that for a good handbag, but an electrical thingy, no way. Joking, joking.

I found a cheap (cheap being the operative word) one on Craigslist, but the measurements made Ben and I a wee bit nervous.  If we bought it, carried it home on a borrowed dolly, managed it in the hole in the wall, plugged it in, and it didn’t work… the results would be disastrous.  I can’t even IMAGINE the scene, nor do I want to.  Our marriage would probably be in shambles and our building burned to the ground.

Then, Ben did something really smart.  He talked to the superintendent of our building.  And, the very, very, VERY nice man said, “I think I have an extra unit.  I will install it for you tomorrow.” Ben and I immediately renewed our vows upon hearing such joyous news.  But, we still crossed our fingers and nervously waited.  What if it didn’t happen?

The next evening, I ran home from work.  I threw open the door to our bedroom and heard a familiar humming.  I felt a cold air rush against my face as I ran around the bed to peek at the hole in the wall and I found… our NEW AC! 

A miracle.  A real New York miracle.