As The Sun Sets...

This morning the sun rose; about an hour later, so did we. Today was a difficult day: lots of work for each of us, lots to address, and lots to wrap up before my other half hit the Triboro to go back to Kennedy and, temporarily, to San Francisco. Since there's a gap of about three full days, I'm going back in time, recapping the last few days, and enjoying some very pleasant recent memories...

Sunday night was dinner with friends to celebrate a birthday at Cipriani downtown. We arrived a little after 8 and wound up snaking our way through the maze of outside tables and made our way to the back of the restaurant. We brought a Vuitton keycase for the guest of honor, as they recently moved into a new apartment and we figured something to hold keys was the way to go. Cipriani was, as usual, really wonderful, although none of us were starving in particular. Dinner was great but part of the fun was the red Ferrari Modena cabrio parked out front and the two or three model-like creatures propped up against it like it was a park bench. Cipriani is good, but as a scene its nearly unrivaled.

After dinner we made our way back to our friends' new apartment, which is really nice. It's as close to living in a "house" in the City as you can get without forking over $5 mill for a townhouse. They snagged a two-bedroom two-bath duplex with a huge roof deck -- perfect for summer BBQ, July 4th Fireworks and sunbathing. They travel a lot, however, so I'll be more than happy to house-sit for them...in fact I plan on offering my services -- soon ;-)

We got in late Sunday night and crashed nearly instantaneously, so Monday we just rolled out of bed and hit downtown to shop Soho and a few other stops along the way. By the time we got in we were so drenched in commerce, sun and fatigue we wound up ordering in Mexican and relaxing on the couch.

Tuesday -- back to work -- wound up being a really productive day. I had quite a few things to do -- and since my dad was flying back to NJ that afternoon, I had a limited window of time in which to consult him so everything needed to be resolved, addressed and/or handled before he got on the plane. Once I finished up in the office, my other half swung by the office and we returned to the scene of the crime -- downtown -- and poked around a little more before coming back uptown for a few quiet hours before we showered, headed back downtown to Balthazar and spent our last night in what I can honestly describe, without being asked to return my He-Man's Woman-Haters Club Membership Card, as magical.

This morning I headed into the office and had a lot of running around to do, as my other half stayed behind to handle a bunch of workstuff she had to resolve before boarding her flight. She finished up and met me downtown, where I wound up for a good part of the day, so we shared a quick lunch and a kiss and a few tears before she was in a cab on her way home. It took me a minute or two to get back to work mode, and while she and I spoke a few times here and there before her flight took off at 6, we both tried avoiding the fact that each time we go our separate ways it gets harder and harder to accept.

At some point over the weekend -- I think Saturday, but don't quote me -- we went looking at apartments. It wasn't a great experience for either of us because we were not too thrilled at how extortionate their leases were priced, but we had a lot of fun moseying through a semi-completed building. More importantly, we realized that we each had the same taste, the same sense of layout and design, and staying power through the little, aggravating bullshit (like the difficulty of finding a suitable, affordable apartment).

I think the most smiles came from her checking in with her parents every couple days; hearing the conversations -- even only her end thereof -- put me at ease on a number of levels. But mostly it reminded me that we're really lucky to be where we are, together, even if we're 3,000 miles apart as we each head to sleep tonight.

Until she returns to NYC, or I hit San Fran, her perfume lingers on my sheets, her smile is on my mind, and I can almost feel her leaning up against me as I sit at the PC writing this out. It's not the same as her being here, of course, but rather than explore how sad I am she's there and I'm here tonight, I'm actually choosing to focus on what we have, where we are and where we are going. And despite any sadness cascading through my mind and my heart, it makes me happy to know that one day I'll look back on these days and nights and do nothing but smile.