next time you see me, please, kick me in the stomach
An opportunity such as this is rare, so do act fast while the offer is on the table.
There's a placard on the street below the Empire State Building which reads "no standing". I found this particular sign quite ironic, at 1100pm, as there was a line queing directly below it. There were no other obvious signs of life on the street, just a parade of perhaps 50 people. We deducted, by way of time of night and camera to person ratio, that this must be the cue to ride the elevator to the top, something that I'd never done before.
I asked Laura if she was interested in doing this. She shrugged her shoulders, mentioning that if we fancied it, we could do this on one of our many visits to New York. And we kept walking.
With the building behind us, having not taken the ride to the top, I couldn't help but think of all the times that Laura had encouraged me to hold her belly, feeling for the touch of our unborn sons movement. I'd tried, with my hands and with my face, to feel for him, yet I'm still not certain that I ever did feel him. Truth be told, it all seemed quite inconsquential at the time: thinking that I'd be feeling his skin against my own, his warm baby breath tickling my ears so very soon.
As tears rolled down my face, I kept mentioning to my wife that 'tomorrow is never a promise' and that 'we shouldn't so easily pass on opportunity, simply because we will soon again have a similar chance'.
"Does this mean that you'd like to go back and climb the stairs of the Empire Building?"
"No, it's not about the building. It's not that arbitrary. I would, however, like to have you kick me in the stomach. Especially if I am ever again with such a splendid opportunity, and I so easily have a pass."
There's a placard on the street below the Empire State Building which reads "no standing". I found this particular sign quite ironic, at 1100pm, as there was a line queing directly below it. There were no other obvious signs of life on the street, just a parade of perhaps 50 people. We deducted, by way of time of night and camera to person ratio, that this must be the cue to ride the elevator to the top, something that I'd never done before.
I asked Laura if she was interested in doing this. She shrugged her shoulders, mentioning that if we fancied it, we could do this on one of our many visits to New York. And we kept walking.
With the building behind us, having not taken the ride to the top, I couldn't help but think of all the times that Laura had encouraged me to hold her belly, feeling for the touch of our unborn sons movement. I'd tried, with my hands and with my face, to feel for him, yet I'm still not certain that I ever did feel him. Truth be told, it all seemed quite inconsquential at the time: thinking that I'd be feeling his skin against my own, his warm baby breath tickling my ears so very soon.
As tears rolled down my face, I kept mentioning to my wife that 'tomorrow is never a promise' and that 'we shouldn't so easily pass on opportunity, simply because we will soon again have a similar chance'.
"Does this mean that you'd like to go back and climb the stairs of the Empire Building?"
"No, it's not about the building. It's not that arbitrary. I would, however, like to have you kick me in the stomach. Especially if I am ever again with such a splendid opportunity, and I so easily have a pass."
posted by justinian at 11:38 PM
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