Here's to the Upstate Cholent

It's early, for a change. I was planning to do some work over the weekend but volleyball and a water leak downstairs got in the way. Instead, I'm trying to get a few hours in before the normal workday begins. I leave the building and see Rachelli R. across the street.

Inside the station, I spot Tova K. buying a metrocard and sneak up behind her. BOO! She gasps for air and I keep on walking turning my head so she can see the grin on my face. I pass the turnstiles and wait for her to come through, motioning for her to hurry as I hear the train approaching.

We board the train and stand near the doors. Rachel L. is sitting two seats away and waves hello; Avi Z. is a bit further on the other side and doesn't see us.

Tova and I discuss the usual. Some gossip and a bit about this and that, but mostly we talk about dating, online dating, and dating in relationships. She also warns me that her mother thinks I'm nice and might friend me on FB, though hopefully that has nothing to do with dating.

I get off at 59th and onto the B, which is already across the platform. Neil H. is there. I doubt he recognizes me at all, but I remember him as the Director of Financial Aid from my college days (I believe he no longer works there). He also owns a kosher bed and breakfast in Hunter Mountain and although I never stayed as overnight guest, I did have the opportunity to eat some homemade cholent there a few years ago. It was pretty good, and thinking about it has made me both hungry and nostalgic for the upstate vacations my friends and I take every summer. As we get older, many of us busy starting new families of our own, I wonder how long the annual trip will last, if it hasn't ended already.