day with M, night with a different M

Today is one of those rare days when so much seems to happen.

By nine, M and are out of her perfect parking space and into another perfect space in front of Sam’s building in the East Village.  Sam’s nice but tiny apartment barely fits the two boys who live there— but a third friend is in-between apartments and is camping out there for a few weeks.

The place is an absolute wreck.  Not an open space anywhere.  My friend John meets us there at ten and M takes care of getting Sam and his roommate great blinds.

Next, we enlist the help of some workers who are renovating the apartment next door. They  help hang some hooks, using an amazing tool I've never seen, a laser leveler. They also sweep up the floors and lend us an industrial size vacuum.   Best Buy comes and hangs the TV.  M and I straighten and clean.  By the time we leave, the place is transformed.

It’s after two when we are done. M says, “Let’s go somewhere nice for lunch.”  We are dressed in what I’d call cleaning clothes.  M has on a long shirt and leggings.  That’s a lot nicer than the cut-offs and white tee with dryer holes that I am wearing.  Still, M suggests a great place, Balthazar in Soho.  It’s a Friday afternoon.  The city empties on summer Fridays.  And, it’s the middle of the afternoon.  How busy can it me?  Not very, we wrongly assume.

We cannot get a table, unless we feel like waiting 45 minutes. So we eat at the bar.  Our waiter is adorable and talkative.  

The food is sumptuous.  We split fries (among the best I’ve had) and I get a Salad Niçoise (also excellent).

I love when M comes.  Being with her is always an adventure.  And now that her son lives here, she comes often.

We walk a bit after lunch, and then I take a bus home. (M is driving back to Boston tonight).  I quickly shower. Change clothes.  And leave.  

I meet Gail and Robyn for a BAFTA screening of Get on Up (a biopic about James Brown).  After the film, the stars and director come on stage for a Q&A, along with one of the producers,  Mick Jagger.  I am sitting only five feet away.  He is charming, self-effacing, and smart.  When we leave, there are photographers everywhere.

It's a perfect ending to a perfect day.