If You Can Make it There - New York Book Festival - IV


The kidnapped, handicapped, claiming that he caught the clap.

I'm not quite sure that Bruce line was rattling around my brain as I walked the streets of New York but it was.

There was every sort of person on the streets.

The street fair stretched from 32nd street all the way to 42nd street.

Just person after person after person.

White, black, Asian, Indian, Iranian, Hispanic.

Tall people, short people, skinny people, fat people.

Ugly people, beautiful people.

We were all hot. We were all tired. We all just kept moving.

The smells were wide and varied too.

The aroma of food from the carts.

The odor of urine, and puke, and whatever else you can imagine.

People on bikes. People skating. Horses.

Sirens. And the car horns.

Just blaring.

And there was the not-famous guy from North Collins in the middle of it all.

Just thinking of love and people and loss and love and the madness that can get you, and love, and loss.

And Food!

We all can cook.

I'm not sure how it all came together, but Corinne had broken it down for me a week before as she had watched me make the sauce and start the meatballs.

"Isn't it funny that we all had our solitary moments when Dad taught us?"

It was true.

There were six of us.

But he'd taken each one aside.

He'd made them feel special as he taught them.

Love.

I wanted that meal.

I was chasing greatness in sauce.

New York was the place to be.

We all have spent every minute chasing perfection.

The chase has made us who we are.

And we've all made it happen from time-to-time.

The food I had was good.

Make no mistake.

The veal was tremendous.

The lobster-based appetizer was expertly prepared.

But you wanna' know a secret?

Dad's was better.

Jeff's was better.

Jim's and John's and Corinne's and Carrie's and mine.

They're all better.

The missing ingredient from the meal served above?

Yeah.

You know what it is.

The awards are in.

Ten awards from ten festivals.

Roaring approval of Jeff's days.

Tremendous support for the love we've brought.

We went to New York.

We were funny.

We showed 'em the Fuzzy's.

I hope they find the love on their own.

All of 'em.

All of you.

Get busy living.

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