Around 3 pm, I started getting ready to meet my niece. Although I took a little longer than usual to get ready, I was out the door by 5:10 pm, with an expected ETA at the museum of 7 pm. Sadly, this was not to be. At several points along my way, there were unexpected jams that made it impossible for me to conveniently reach Pelham for a train into NYC. First, the Southbound Sprain Brook Parkway had a several mile backup leading to the Route 287 exit. Once past the exit, it took several miles for traffic to resume highway speeds. Once in Yonkers, traffic jammed up again, forcing me to bail at Tuckahoe road. So I decided to get on Route 87 - another mistake, as the exit for the Cross County Parkway was also backed up much more than usual. Instead of a trip that gave me 15 minutes of wiggle room to reach the museum, I was running over 30 minutes late. When I finally reached Pelham, the 6:15 train had just left. I had to wait for the 6:33, which itself was delayed getting into Grand Central. It took 45 minutes to reach NYC, and another 20+ minutes on the Subway to reach the Rubin museum.
My niece and I finally connected with each other about 45 minutes late - on a day that she was running an hour early. At least, she was the one waiting on me for a change. One thing we noted on this visit to the museum - it seemed as if there was less space being devoted to exhibits than usual. But we still enjoyed the place, even though we were focusing more on our conversation than the art itself..
While walking around, we talked about many things. One of these things was her family situation. She was very uncomfortable thinking about it, so I dropped the topic as soon as I got the information I needed - it looks like my brother and my niece will be cooking for Thanksgiving this year. So I'll have to do something for dessert. (Maybe another batch of Chocolate Almond Brownies?) What surprised me was that my sister in law might be there. (I won't go into the reasons why I am surprised right now. Let's say that my brother didn't feel safe with her in the house a few weeks ago.) Hopefully, I won't see her eldest son. (He's a waste of genetic material, and offends me with his lack of basic intelligence.) I don't want to treat him with more respect than he deserves.
After we were done with the museum, we walked over to A Salt and Battery - a wonderful British style Fish and Chips place. No atmosphere, but great fish. And it was there that I talked about my situation with GFJ, as well as the situation with my former cruise partner that caused us to end our friendship. My niece was shocked about this cruise partner's actions, having the same feelings that Vicki #1 had when I told her the full story. And my niece understood (in a different, but healthy way) why I had to disconnect from this woman and go on my own. (My niece had to leave home for several years due to the insanity at home. As a result, she's not the kind of woman who'll put up with bullshit from anyone.)
All too soon, it was time to go home. I accompanied her to Penn Station, where she caught a train home. While I was on my train home, she texted me and told me how lucky she was. The train after hers derailed as I remember her text, and all later trains were being backed up on the main line of the LIRR. As for me, I had an uneventful trip to Pelham, and an uneventful drive home.
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