Last weekend I experimented with the first weekend jaunt to Toronto to see my old stomping grounds, and visit Dan and Steve and Finn.
I left work around 4 on Friday, walked to Penn Station from Rockefeller Center, then took the NJ Transit to Newark airport. Newark is the furthest airport from midtown Manhattan but because of the train it’s actually quite convenient. Basically an hour door-to-door got me at my gate a couple hours early which got my hopes up to jump on an earlier flight than my planned 6:40 departure.
Instead Porter was running behind on all their flights. I didn’t end up taking off til 9pm and I walked into the Rombough condo at 11pm. Finn was obviously fast asleep so I followed his lead and hit the pillow after saying hi to Dan and quickly catching up.
I got to spend the entire next morning with Finn: completing puzzles, eating bagels, playing at the park, bugging him with tickle fights and just watching him be a kid. It’s amazing how much he has grown and how much he has learned in just three months. He’s curious, smart and so funny. He knows the entire alphabet both orally and visually and he loves to count!
Saturday afternoon we went to a 1-year-old birthday party where Finn sat patiently among the chaos and “read”, no joke, 25 books. He loves flipping through pages and pointing out observations like letters, number and pictures.
Dan and I got to have a nice team dinner at Plants Queen which opened just after I moved away from Toronto. Delicious, gourmet Asian food and all plant-based in a cool ambience. Dan is pretty passionate about eating vegetarian and it was nice for us to catch up over business and our new careers. One thing we both said we missed when we were business partners was the fact that we rarely got to be just siblings and hear about each other’s lives or careers.
Sunday was another fun morning with Finn before Dan and I went to meet a couple of our tutors for coffee. It was nice to catch up with them and thank them for working so hard while we’ve gone through this change. Because of Dan’s leadership and our staff’s hard work, Arnold Tutoring had a very successful end to the school year.
Back downtown and I did meet friends Nora and Marc for a tasty patio lunch under the sun by the water. Both these humans are super successful in their careers and it was fun to hear about their latest accomplishments and update them on New York living (though both had already visited since I’ve moved!)
We went back and hung with Dan and Finn before I had to leave for the airport in the evening.
Another delayed flight and a midnight arrival at my apartment made for a tiring start to the week, but I wouldn’t trade the sleep for the great family time I was able to experience!
Thanks for the hospitality Toronto, and thanks for reading.
Mike