God Trips are flexible when the ankle doesn’t flex

May 11, 2011

God trips don’t mean bad things don’t  happen.  It’s just that God trips help to put them in perspective.  Late Monday night as we were crossing the street to Macy’s famous department store next to our hotel, I twisted my ankle on broken pavement.  We picked up treatments for it, and I did the RICE thing. Rest. Ice. Compress. Elevate.  And ate my Stemplex from Simplexity Health.

The next morning, May 10^th, it really didn’t matter that my ankle was still not flexing as we changed our plans from visiting the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island to  opting for the Circle Line instead, the two hour boat trip from the Hudson River to the East River with plenty of time to take pictures of the Statue from the boat.  With a sprained ankle, it made sense to take taxis, buses and boats.

Rule #2 on God Trips:  Be Flexible.  I always thought if there were an 11^th commandment, that would be it.  When you run into a brick wall, you either scale it or turn another way. 

 

I felt as if  were in the Tower of Babel, the sounds of foreign languages ringing around u  American was being spoken with accents from the Dominican Republic to Nepal (our two taxi drivers).  On the boat, when it was time to take pictures of the Statue of Liberty, we saw the long lines we would have been in, had we chosen to visit there  instead.   We asked a friendly young man we had observed earlier to take our picture with Lady Liberty behind us.  He obliged and told us he was escorting a Korean born winner of the best Bloomingdales has to offer, around New York City as part of her prize. He was the manager of the Bloomingdales of Palo Alto, and I believe she was from San Francisco.  After our Macy’s experience, we told him, yes, the next time we were in Palo Alto, we would visit his store.  

The two hour Circle Tour was the perfect way to see Lady Liberty when one has a sprained ankle

 

Seventy years ago I was born in New York City, Lawrence Hospital in the Bronx.   I have now come full circle, but just visiting.  Had a delicious hotdog with sauerkraut on the Circle Line.  Now it’s time to return to Virginia but with bagels and lox in a box for lunch on the train.  I have to take some of NYC with me!

P.S.  By the way, the ankle is now OK.

“Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.” – John Wesley