As I walked back to the train station at 7:00 am this morning from my daughter’s new apartment, I felt refreshed. Yes, I was more refreshed than I had been during my last sleepover in the BIG CITY. No earplugs for me this time. I didn’t need them anymore. Nope. No earplugs. That’s because my daughter A has moved up in the BIG CITY that never sleeps, to an apartment where her visiting mom (and A too) can now get their noggins.

No more loud chatter all night from the bar and restaurant below. No more three flights to walk up with a huff and a puff at the end of the stairs. No more subway ride from the train station. (Okay, there are still a few noises from the bustling cars that speed around the street from the Queens Midtown Tunnel– but the noise is mild.) And, now I also can walk to Penn Station from A’s apartment. What a find!

Yes, A has moved up in the BIG CITY by moving down (from the upper Eastside) to Murray Hill area in the 30s, not too far from where I used to live more than 25+ years ago. There’s a doorman (who took my little red suitcase to store while I went to my evening event). There’s an elevator that I took up to her third floor apartment when I arrived at 10:00 pm for my sleepover.

“I like it,” I said to A as I entered her new one bedroom crib that had been divided to fit two (as they often do these days in the BIG CITY). “It’s nice.”

There was a teeny-tiny kitchen in the corner, a living room with two black couches (from IKEA) and a new flat screen television, and two big bedrooms (according to NYC standards), both large enough to fit full size beds (A got the bedroom with a closet, complete with a closet organizer…it’s almost like she won the lottery.). The bathroom was teeny-tiny too, but clean and neat.

“Bring a towel,” said A, the day before I was to arrive.

“Bring a towel?,” I said, “What happened to the extra new towels I bought you for your Upper Eastside apartment a few months ago?”

“I’m using them now,” A said. “I haven’t done towel laundry.”

“Oh, I see,” I said. “Well, I guess I can pack one towel.” Then I can leave it in your teeny tiny bathroom and hopefully come visit again sometime.

I woke early. A helped me set my cell phone alarm for 6:00 am to ensure that I was in the bathroom and using my bath towel before she and her roommate started their morning routines. I was out the door for my stroll across the BIG CITY streets before A and her roommate C awoke.

I walked up Third Avenue, passed my old stomping ground. It felt like old times. I remember when my legs were in such good shape that I used to run up and down the BIG CITY streets all hours of the morning, noon and night.

Jackson Hole, the popular burger place that my late husband and I used to frequent was still there on Third between 34th and 35th Streets. I was twenty-something when we used to frequent that spot with its huge burgers and fries and bowls of pickles. Now I am fifty-something walking back from my twenty-something daughter A’s apartment. WOW, how did that happen? I feel like I’m always saying, where has the time gone? But, I have to say it again:

WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE?

I think I have to shout it out loud two more times:

WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE?

WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE?

I loved the BIG CITY during my fast paced stroll this morning. The streets were quiet. The BIG CITY was just waking up…just the early morning joggers were on the streets…and a few pigeons too. I didn’t have to maneuver around too many people with my little red suitcase. Unlike my last sleepover in the BIG CITY, I didn’t run over any feet or other body parts while I walked to catch my train back to Philadelphia.

I was happy for my daughter A. I am so proud of her accomplishments in the BIG CITY. The BIG CITY where I started my career and where she is moving into the next phase of her career and exciting life.

I hope she will invite me back for another sleepover in the BIG CITY. I left my blue bath towel neatly hanging in the teeny tiny bathroom, so the next time it will be waiting for me. Oh, I hope she will invite me back. And if she does, I’ll even take her to dinner at my favorite burger joint around the corner from her apartment. I wonder if the burgers are still as good as they were 25+ years ago? Guess I’ll just have to wait and see.

Judi