No looking back

10/13/09 Ten postcards (each containing plans for a "New York Adventure"), recycled

Joanna is pregnant, and our son (a.k.a. The Cajun Critter) is due in January.

Yep, big changes ahead.

Tonight, as Joanna and I discussed the need for life insurance and pondered the implications of cloth diapers, I pulled a decorative basket down from the top of a cabinet. I had expected it to be empty.

Inside were ten postcards of New York scenes. On the back of each one, I had written down a "New York Adventure" I wanted to have with Joanna during our final six months in the city. I don't remember the details clearly, but I must have given them to her around Christmas 2002, knowing we'd be getting married and moving out of New York the next summer.

Here's what they said:

• January. A New York Adventure... Ticket for two to: Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. We'll mingle with the stars together.

• Unplanned Adventure: Smoke

• February. A New York Adventure... Ticket for two to: Central Park Carriage Ride. A romantic horse-drawn trip through the park.

• Unplanned Adventure: The Museum of Sex

• March. A New York Adventure...Ticket for two to: Harlem Pub Crawl. Let's take a final evening in "our" old neighborhood. Perhaps we'll crash Mocha, Native, Lenox Lounge, Bayou, and Jimmy's Uptown.

• Unplanned Adventure: Village Vanguard

• April. A New York Adventure... Ticket for two to: Brooklyn Museum of Art's First Saturday. An evening of music and culture!

• May. A New York Adventure...Ticket for two to: Terrace in the Sky. Fine dining overlooking the far Upper West Side.

• Unplanned Adventure: Ellis Island

• June. A New York (and NJ) Adventure... Ticket for two to: An Evening in Hoboken. After ducking under the Hudson, we'll stroll through town and enjoy dinner at my favorite Italian place.

I could look back with regret that we ended up having very few of those adventures. Don't every one of those sound cool? Trust me, they do. Most didn't happen, and there's little chance they will any time soon.

As Joanna looked them over, she said, "We should save these and the next time we're in New York, try to do some of them!" Then, she laughed, realizing it just wasn't going to happen. I tossed them into the recycling bin.

I'm comforted, however, by two thoughts:

1) We had more than our share of great New York adventures (watching the sunrise from the Brooklyn Bridge comes to mind).

2) In the end, the adventures that lay ahead are always more interesting than those in the past.

With a baby on the way, I don't think I'll have the time, energy, or desire to regret what we "might have done."

I'm far more interested interested in what we - all three of us! - are going to do...

(And don't worry, Son, we most definitely will take you to the Village Vanguard.)