A Train Trip to the Bronx

Today was pretty much spent transporting children.  In the course of a few hours, I went from the Lower East Side to West Midtown to the Bronx, back to West Midtown, then, finally, back to the Lower East Side.  The things we do for our children!

I resisted doing it all.  My original plan for the day had me doing the Lower East Side part and someone else doing the Bronx.  But plans are just plans, and reality is reality, and today's reality was me on the Lower East Side and in the Bronx.

Today's reality turned out to be the best thing that could have happened.

A year ago, when we convinced my oldest that her best high school choice was a place in the Bronx, it was really an abstract.  Though she had visited and liked the school, the reality of going there and coming home every day couldn't possibly hit until she was in the middle of it.  Flash forward a year, and she is handling it fine (she stays up too late doing homework, and sleeps through much of her weekend, but what teenager doesn't?).  I, who, until today, had seen the school only once, have not been so sure.  It might still be New York City, but it takes a lot to want to make the trip to the Bronx for meetings and conferences and events.  Had we chosen the wrong school if I never wanted to make the trip there?

So today, as I sat on the train, and as I walked from the train to the school with the help of my Google directions, I realized that, because plans changed, I was getting to see my daughter's school in action, even if just for the few minutes it took to pick her up early.  I made the train trip to the Bronx, and I survived, still intact to make my second trip to the Lower East Side.

I may still not make frequent trips to her school, but hey, this is high school--it's not as though there are regular publishing parties and family math events.  If she can manage the day-to-day travel, and I'm no longer afraid of the trip, that's enough for now.

All thanks to a train trip to the Bronx.