One night, week before last, my BFF and I were chatting about blogging, and she mentioned that she was going to an event for Chevy, and there were two tickets to the New York International Auto Show that came with it. She had no idea who to take with her.
We go to the Washington, DC show EVERY year, because we have a die hard car fan in our home. Mr. Social is seven, and can tell you what car is following you… in the dark… based on the shape of its headlights. He loves cars. Literally. His main obsession is the mini-van. He actually blows kisses at them when they pass him on the road. It is cute right now, but I kinda hope he grows out of his automobile PDA soon.
I started talking about how we go every year, and how much Dave loves cars, and then it hit us both – let’s take Mr. Social! His birthday had just passed during that week, and no one would appreciate a trip to the car show more than him. Now, I LOVE a surprise (as long as it is someone else being surprised), so hubby agreed to be the kids substitute teacher and work from home, and I got us two train tickets bound for NYC.
I got his clothes out the night before and made sure that hubby made his mohawk photo ready. At around 3:00 in the morning, I woke him up, got him dressed, and we headed for the train station. He didn’t know where he was going or what we were doing – not even that he was going to be on the train. When we got there, he just did as he was told, jumped out of the car, and we ran for the Amtrak station. We got our tickets at the kiosk, ran to the gate… Cancelled. The 4:00 am train was cancelled.
We waited for the 4:48… Delayed. We finally boarded… had to switch out the engine. So we plugged in the phone and my Android tablet… power went out.
I am not superstitious, so the fact that it was Friday the 13th only crossed my mind once… or twice…
We finally got going, and Mr. Social settled in with a movie from Netflix. He knew we were going to New York, since there were signs everywhere, but didn’t know why. Eventually we both fell asleep.
Once we arrived, I still wasn’t ready to experience NYC. It was early, and I didn’t really feel like being rushed through ordering breakfast at some bagel stand by some guy who was impatient with non-New Yorkers. I used my phone to find a sit down breakfast buffet at a restaurant called Niles. Mr. Social was too excited to eat much, but I tore up the buffet, knowing that the day would involve a TON of walking.
We left there, and headed to meet @teeohwhy. Mr. Social had decided to wave at a older lady on the street… just because. She was so pleased, that she introduced herself and her husband, and we started chatting. Turns out, she was an elementary school teacher from my hometown… knows lots of people I know… headed to the car show as well… too weird. Mr. Social sure knows how to pick em. That’s the only person he chose to greet randomly that day.
I took him on his first ride on the NY subway. There was a Trinidadian guy playing steel pan, and Mr. Social went up to him to tell him that he too played tenor pan. The guy then went into his bag, pulled out a stick and asked him to play with him. After that, we met up with @teeohwhy played in Central Park for a while, then headed to the auto show. He was only interested in food and minivans. That was it. He wanted to see a red, Dodge minivan, and have a smoothie. There were flying cars, a mini that had been converted into some sort of boat, Bugatti, Rolls Royce, McLaren, Porche, Bentley… yawn… all he wanted to see was a red, Dodge minivan.
Once he got to see that, he was ready to go. Gracious about it as always, but still – he was done. He thought he was anyway. We headed outside to try out the obstacle course set up by Jeep, and he was tall enough to go on the test ride. Sweet!
He passed out at the Korean Barbeque, we got a cab, and made it back to the train station for 10:00. It was a long day, but it was quite worth it. He slept the entire way home – and so did I. He was so tired when we were getting off the train in DC, that after we walked a ways he says, “Look! There’s one we can get on, I see seats!” I told him that we were already home now, and getting ready to meet daddy. He didn’t reply, just kept walking. When we arrived at the car, he sped up a little to get ahead of me, and opened my door for me. Then he opened his, plopped into the seat, and fell asleep again.
Yeah, the day had been all about him, but at the end of it, that little act of chivalry let me know that he appreciated the day, me, and my efforts. If kids only knew that their appreciation is all we need to get us to take them to the moon and back…
