Jamie's Blog

I just setup a WordPress blog for the wife! Hopefully she will put it to good use!

Yesterday, the (future) wife and I went shopping at Montgomery Mall. Aside from a few personal items, articles of clothing and other luxuries, we also got a few travel brochures. We stopped to eat an almond pretzel from Auntie Anne’s and flip through them. After looking through the Asia brochure, we thought about whether we wanted our honeymoon to be more cultural or relaxing. We decided it should be relaxing and dismissed Asia as a destination. Then, we looked at the Caribbean and Jamaica brochures, but the agent said something about June being the start of the hurricane season. If we are anything, it’s prudent. Having eliminated two more destinations, we turned our attention to Hawaii and Europe, with its Grecian beaches. Wanting someplace with nice beaches, we decided that Hawaii must have better beaches than Europe (and it’s warmer). So, we are pretty much set on Hawaii. We can take some cultural tours around the islands, see some volcanoes, and relax on its beaches. Hopefully, all of our decisions will be that easy.

I’m on the twenty-ninth floor of the Ramada New Yorker two blocks from Penn Station in midtown Manhattan. There’s no central-air here (only one of those air conditioners you stick out of a window), and the room feels historic–as if it hasn’t changed since before I was born. The comforter bears a floral design of pinks and dark greens, and I can’t tell whether the colors are meant to seem dull and understated or if the blanket is just very worn. The room seems smaller than it is, a regular (in the geometric sense) room of about sixty-four square feet. The bathroom walls are covered in sea-green ceramic; more than a few tiles are cracked. I’ve never seen this before, but there are four faucets, two to control the showhead and two to regulate the bottom spigot.

Lisa’s voice filters through my cellphone’s speaker, only slightly distored. She’ll be on the phone all night, on the bedside desk. We spend many nights like this since I’ve been back working off of Wall Street. We provide mutual comfort just idling on the phone together, the only sounds being the hiss of the speakerphone, the constant gushing chill from the air conditioner, and the fingers tapping on keys. I don’t enjoy being away from her. If she is life, then how do I justify the time that I spend away? My only answer is that my love for her must be tempered by my love for all that is not her.