It was the first time I had ever been to the city. I was there alone on a day that was meant to be for school. My parents would kill me if they ever found out that I was not in school let alone that I had travelled all the way to New York without their knowledge or permission. You might not think that kind of a trip for a 16 year old was very wise but in my defense, there was a new exhibit opening. You see, many of my favorite artists would be represented there and there was absolutely no way I would imagine missing it. I tried handling this in a much more conventional way. I tried every angle to make this trip an authorized venture but no matter what plan was offered there seem to be a reason it would not work… Once my mind was made little could change it.
It was over 100 miles away from our house and there would only be one day to attend. Normally this would be no problem. I asked my mom to take me. That was always the go to parent in our family if we wanted parent participation in any event. My dad was around but he was more of a “let the kids spread their wings” kind of guy if you know what I mean… It turned out that week was already planned out in advance for my mom. She had to attend a convention in California for work. It had been planned for months and there was no way out of it. I totally understood that but when I asked my dad to squeeze one day out to take me to the Gallery, he said he couldn’t. I begged my dad for 1 afternoon but as he made perfectly clear, he couldn’t leave my siblings to their own vices.
Just because my dad didn’t want to partake didn’t mean he would allow me to go alone. I tried to talk to my uncle Bill about it, but realized pretty quickly that he was not the right person to consult – he was completely obsessed with his new vice – slots online. He had found a site where he could get up to date info on which online casinos offered the latest best free rolls and promotional goodies for slots players and was all in. He even tried to get me to play, so no go, uncle Bill. I needed a different source of advice, or none at all.
I started planning immediately but I realized that if I wanted to make this trip happen it would be totally on me to make sure everything went off without a hitch for the entire trip there and back. If for any reason my parents found out there would be hell to pay. Luckily for me I had been saving my allowance for several years and there was a small fortune at my disposal. The bus tickets were cheap enough but my departure time for the trip to the city was awfully early. I had to pretend to go to school early that day but my dad was super busy with everyone else so it was not a hard sell to make it happen.