Out of a Paper Bag: Installment #2 of "Terrianne and Shulamith fly to New York City to see four Broadway shows in three days!"

My spouse, our five children, their spouses (the two who have them), and any of my close friends will gladly testify to the fact that I have no sense of direction. Truth is I couldn't find my way out of a paper bag. One night I left the temple after serving on the evening shift, and wandered the parking lot for 30 minutes before texting Shulamith and Eli to report that I could not locate my car. "Don't worry," I texted. "I'll just keep searching. It has to be here. I just wanted you to know why I'm still not home." Eli and Amanda were just about to jump in their car and come rescue me, when finally, there it was: my car. Parked exactly where I left it six hours earlier.

I never know which way to go, and when I choose, 90% of the time, I choose wrong. The struggle, as they say, is real. So you can only imagine my apprehension about riding the NYC subway. Eeeeeek! When my mom and I were in New York, she paid for us to take Ubers or Taxis everywhere, but Shulamith and I wanted to save money, and Isaiah assured us we could navigate the subway just fine. By that he meant Shulamith could do it; he knows better than to think I could. I mean just look at this mess:

Like all maps, it resembles a package of cooked Ramen noodles thrown down on a page in random chaos. Meaningless. But Shulamith attacked it like a boss. Thanks to her, we owned that subway, riding from the airport to our hotel on Times Square, from our hotel to the 911 memorial and back, and finally to the airport to fly home. She read that Ramen noodle map but was better assisted by the marvelous Google Maps app, which told us exactly where to go and what to do. 

Besides those longer excursions, we did what she and I like to do best: We walked! We are known throughout our neighborhood housing development and our ward (which are basically the same thing) as the girls who walk all the time. Our favorite walk in NYC was the morning we walked to Central Park. It was every bit as lovely as I imagined, trees blowing in the breeze, people strolling along with their dogs on leashes, seemingly unending trails of pavement. We wish we could walk there every day.

I couldn't find my way out of a paper bag, but we found everything we needed and more. Stay tuned for further installments of "Terrianne and Shulamith fly to New York City to see four Broadway shows in three days."