Bitter Sweet Week in Boston

The Gayla Pink Apple

Bitter Sweet Week in Boston
A Little Walk Down Memory Lane
Goodbye Boston - Hello New York

 

Still in Boston with Blair packing her belongings to move to storage.  Then we will be traveling to New York together moving Blair into a flat in Manhattan. She will be taking classes at NYU.

Wrapping-and-a-Packing (Blair)

Leaving Boston is bitter sweet for her - but, for me too. I have visited her pretty often, during the past four years, while she attended Emerson College. I loved visiting Boston and have my favorite restaurants, hotels, shops, etc. Nearby shopping on Newbury Street is fabulous. It is a beautiful street filled with designer shops and quaint cafes and fine dining restaurants. It is "the place" to shop and talk about! Boston Common (oldest city park in the US) is located across the street from Emerson and next to it is the Boston Public Garden filled with beautiful flowers, a lot of people, and paths to walk, run, or just sit and relax. 

My gorgeous Blair - beautiful inside and out   

I've become very familiar with Boylston Street where many upscale shops and restaurants are located as well, and I actually can maneuver the area very well.  Emerson College is on Boylston Street as well as Blair's apartment.  Also very close is Copley Square which is mall like shopping with Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, and many others.  At the same time I found Marshalls and TJ Maxx and shop them too. 

 
One of my favorite restuarants in Boston is The Rustic Kitchen.  Blair and I dine there every single time I visit. I always order their blood orange martini, fig and goat cheese pizza (and we take it back with us to eat at midnight or the next day), and an entree of either some type of fish or sea scallops -- my favorites. I love the relaxed atmosphere, yet high end / fine dining quality of food. 

Blair and Gayla, Rustic Kitchen, Boston, MA  - May 2012

 

I have become accustomed to the cabs and the Charlie or T (public transportation) but admit I don't use it much.  I'm not keen on taking the T.  At this age in my life, do not hesitate to hail a cab and pay the fare.  My best taxi story is last August when I was helping Blair move into her studio apartment for her senior year.   We had been shopping to stock her kitchen/refrigerator/etc.  The deal was to walk to the market as our last stop of the day and then get a taxi home.  We had been to Pottery Barn, Williams Sonoma, and the grocery market so we were loaded down with shopping bags.  As the taxi driver stops in front of the apartment building he doesn't bother to help us get our bags out of the back.  Blair and I quickly start gathering up the bags and wouldn't you know the bottom of one of my bags (paper not plastic) breaks and items start rolling down Boylston Street, and I go running picking up my things in the street.  The front desk person at the apartment comes out to help us, and the taxi driver starts to drive off, with bags still in the back, and me still trying to gather items off the street, as cars drive by honking.  The front desk man whistles at the taxi to stop as he helps get the bags still left in the taxi.  I looked up at the front desk man to thank him and said "and I tipped that damn taxi driver too!"

Blair and Gayla, May 14, 2012 Emerson College Commencement

 

I will always have wonderful memories of Emerson and Boston.  I left Blair as a first year student where she knew no one at the school or in the city.  Being 26 hours away from home, and as a parent knots in my stomach, but yet I knew in my heart she would be OK.  We met for breakfast the day I was leaving and then walked her back to her dorm.  I hugged and kissed her telling her I loved her and that we would talk soon - turned and walked away - got about 20 feet away and just so happened to glance over my shoulder to see her one last time - our eyes met as we both had turned to look over our shoulders at the same time.  Our eyes were filled with tears, trying so hard not to blink, we both smiled, waved, and kept walking. 

Her second year she studied abroad in London for six months.  I wasn't really worried about that - perhaps I should have been.  She traveled a lot while there - skydived in Switzerland, visited Greece, Paris, Madrid, Whales, Berlin, Rome, Milan, Scotland, and others I can't remember right now.   One lucky girl, if you ask me, and as her mother very proud for her and glad she got to do it. 

Her last two years in Boston at Emerson she lived in apartments both years and that made it very easy for me to visit because no hotel room required.  To finish her time here, it was with great pride to be here for her graduation a few months ago.  Now back this week to move her, and at the same time bringing my Boston visits to an end.  I have loved visiting several times a year and this one no exception.  Well, thanks for going down memory lane with me.

I'm excited to watch Blair as she enters a new chapter in her young adult life and the experiences that come with it for me as her mother.  No, I'm not going back to Little Rock just yet! So long and goodbye Boston, Hello New York City - The Big Apple!

 

My Heart Cries and Smiles,

Gayla