I had to smile Thursday morning when I saw a tweet from George Takei that said "The 6th person you'll meet in heaven is that guy behind the 7-11 counter, so make an effort to say hi now before it gets awkward." I totally got what he was saying, thought it was funny, but saw it as nothing earth shattering and moved on.
Something that happened later in the day gave it slightly more meaning. Two girls my sisters’ age walked into the gallery and began looking around. The girls looked both out of place and like they belonged so I was thrown off a bit. I could instantly tell they weren't from the city so I knew they weren't just playing artist for the day and I saw no sign of anybody else with them. Being the good 'social' cop of the pair Ash walked over to them and said hi as I sat on the couch looking my usual casually remote. As is usually the case it didn't take long for Ash to get their story.
The girls had come to the city on a bus trip from upstate New York to celebrate their high school graduation. While all the others in the group swarmed Times Square, Battery Park, and all the touristy spots these two wandered off to look at galleries. They said it's all they wanted to do while they were here and had been wandering NoHo and the Bowery when the found us. They seemed tired so we asked if they wanted to sit a bit and have some iced tea or coffee.
To make a long story short we ended up spending two hours with the girls. We chatted about art and New York, bought them lunch from Katz's, and I took some pics of them to show off on the trip back home. Than we made sure they had a cab taking them to the right place to meet their group so they didn’t end up in Brooklyn. Once they opened up they turned out to be two of the sweetest girls I have ever met in my life and I enjoyed every minute we spent with them.
Getting back to George Takei tweet, I suppose there is a moral to this story but I'm terrible with morals so I wont even try finding it. Lets just say that sometimes it might actually be better to be social than to not.
Live and learn.
Something that happened later in the day gave it slightly more meaning. Two girls my sisters’ age walked into the gallery and began looking around. The girls looked both out of place and like they belonged so I was thrown off a bit. I could instantly tell they weren't from the city so I knew they weren't just playing artist for the day and I saw no sign of anybody else with them. Being the good 'social' cop of the pair Ash walked over to them and said hi as I sat on the couch looking my usual casually remote. As is usually the case it didn't take long for Ash to get their story.
The girls had come to the city on a bus trip from upstate New York to celebrate their high school graduation. While all the others in the group swarmed Times Square, Battery Park, and all the touristy spots these two wandered off to look at galleries. They said it's all they wanted to do while they were here and had been wandering NoHo and the Bowery when the found us. They seemed tired so we asked if they wanted to sit a bit and have some iced tea or coffee.
To make a long story short we ended up spending two hours with the girls. We chatted about art and New York, bought them lunch from Katz's, and I took some pics of them to show off on the trip back home. Than we made sure they had a cab taking them to the right place to meet their group so they didn’t end up in Brooklyn. Once they opened up they turned out to be two of the sweetest girls I have ever met in my life and I enjoyed every minute we spent with them.
Getting back to George Takei tweet, I suppose there is a moral to this story but I'm terrible with morals so I wont even try finding it. Lets just say that sometimes it might actually be better to be social than to not.
Live and learn.
