The Empire State

After our respective high school graduations and transitions to college and the Real World, my sister and I flew the coop.  I moved to the Midwest two years after she moved to the Empire State (commonly referred to as New York).  With the exception of a few months here and there, she has maintained residency there ever since, starting with tiny dump apartments in Manhattan as a college student, to an apartment in Jersey City (technically not New York, but it may as well be), to an apartment in the Bronx.  Her final foray into renting was her now-husband's parents' apartment on Park Ave in Manhattan (they live in the suburbs but own the apartment), before she and her husband bought a house in the suburbs where she can easily commute by train into The City.

Over the years, I have visited my sister several times: at least three Thanksgivings (possibly four?), two wedding dress shopping trips (mine, then hers), her wedding, one or two spring/summer trips and finally a trip with my own husband this past November to check out their house in the burbs.  Though they have lived there for a couple of years now, I hadn't had the time to make a trip out since they moved in.  But this fall we finally made it happen!

We were there from Friday through Tuesday over the first weekend of November.  We spent the weekend out around town near their house.  Wine tasting, scenic driving, restaurant eating, football watching.  Then Monday and Tuesday we commuted into The City with my sister and played tourists while she spent the days at work.  Visited Rockefeller Square, the 9/11 Memorial, Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, tried New York style pizza and Shake Shack, stopped at my favorite crepe spot, and strolled through Central Park.  With our few hours on Tuesday prior to our flight home, we were able to go up to 30 Rock to catch some views of The City that I'd never seen before.

All in all, we had a great time with my sister and her husband and the City That Never Sleeps.  Check out a few photos:

One of the kitties, Birdie

Bottles from a winery (the wine kinda sucked)

Lady Liberty

View from the ferry

View from 30 Rock

Inside St. Patrick's Cathedral

All you need is LOVE

Panorama from the ferry -- Manhattan on the left, Brooklyn on the right

One of the 9/11 Memorial pools

The Secret Project

My uncle is a car junkie.  He knows probably everything there is to know about cars.  He races, he builds, he restores, he maintains.  It didn't surprise me when, at my cousin's bridal shower, my aunt (his wife) confided in me that he had a secret project he was working on, that his siblings (my mother and her two sisters) weren't supposed to know, but that she just had to tell someone because it was eating her up.  So I was let in on the secret, or more precisely, the existence of the Secret Project.  I didn't know much else other than that.  But knowing him, I knew it would be car-related and it would good.

The timing of my great-aunt's death was perfect (if such a concept exists) in that it occurred shortly after The Secret Project was completed.  She was my mother's aunt, which meant her siblings would be together at her memorial service.  So the morning before the memorial service, my uncle and his sisters gathered at his house for The Big Reveal: an impeccably restored 1947 International flat-bed pickup truck, emblazoned with their father's business name, from the family feed store era.

After two years of hard work (a huge understatement), the Secret Project was completed save for three small chrome pieces of trim which he'd reserved for each of his sisters to put in place, making the whole project complete.  The gesture was, in a way, a gift to them, and also a way of including them in the build of the tribute to their father.

Even though my place of employment is only a couple of miles from my uncle's house, I had to work that morning so that I could take the afternoon off to go to my great-aunt's memorial service.  As such, I missed out on The Big Reveal.  The truck would only be around about another week before being taken across town for longer-term storage, so I was lucky to find out my mom would be visiting my uncle this weekend to have him change her oil and perform a few other maintenance items on her car.  I was able to tag along this time and was blessed with a beautiful sunny day for taking photos of the truck.  Here are a few:

The Secret Project: 1947 International flat-bed pickup truck

Original placard of instructions for driving the truck.  Sounds complicated.

The truck's grille, which is where the final pieces were placed by my mom and her sisters.

One thing I truly cherish from my mother's side of the family is the importance they place on maintaining close family bonds.  This is more than a restored truck -- it is a tribute to the family, to their father, and to his legacy.