Image via Wikipedia

As I stumbled into Starbucks (still half asleep, not drunk!), I viewed the types of coffee on the display board.  Have you ever been overwhelmed by choices?  No?  Then, by all means, go to a coffee house.  I use to love visiting the coffee houses in The Village.  Looking back on this, I believe it was the ambience rather than the coffee.   At the time, I feigned liking the taste of black coffee because I thought that was “cool”(Yes, archaic.  I know.)

We also had to take the bus into the city because we didn’t drive.  Even after obtaining my license, I would not drive into the city!  A mixture of bus fumes and black coffee still conjure memories of those days.   I don’t believe I made the trip often.  I was a bit afraid of the city, being born and raised in a place called “Succasunna.”  It is now in BIG LETTERS on the map and has sort  of blurred the boundary of where New Jersey stops and New York begins.  If it weren’t for going over the Washington Bridge or through the Lincoln Tunnel, Jersey and New York are pretty much the same sprawling metropolis!

I loved growing up in New Jersey.  It was the best of both worlds.  We lived in the country, but the jaunt into NYC was not far.  We went to Radio City Music Hall to see the Easter show.  We also saw the movie (starring Fred MacMurray) Flubber.  Amazing memories which are probably not accurate, but definitely good times!

The Times They Are A-Changin

Now that I am on the second half of my life (!), I am very happy how it has unfolded.  I am where I want to be, in the warm climate of the south, and loving it!  As I’m watching pictures on the news of the flooding in New Jersey, I remember this happening often.  Why do people stay there?  I guess because it is home.  I have come to realize it is not always about where you are, but who you are with.  At this point in my life, as long as I’m with family, I’m good!