Catching up at Columbia

I met my friend Kathryn more than ten years ago when we were both studying abroad in Taiwan during our junior year of college; our friendship was further cemented when we found ourselves working in the museum field in Philadelphia after graduating from our respective schools. Over the years we've remained in touch, but work and distance often made it difficult for us to get together--in fact, the last time that I saw Kathryn was two weeks before my wedding--and that was more than two and a half years ago.  So when I finalized the details of this recent trip to northern New Jersey, I emailed Kathryn to let her know that Sammy and I would be around and would love to meet up with her in New York.  We agreed to meet at 116th and Broadway at the main entrance to Columbia University; the drive into the city went by without incident and I even managed to find rock-star parking located just across the street from the entrance to College Walk; the main gate is flanked by two statues representing Science and Letters and were sculpted by Charles Keck in 1925 and 1915, respectively.

After a delicious brunch at Artopolis Espresso of the best-tasting waffles I've ever eaten, the three of us made our way to the grassy areas in front of the Low Memorial Library; it was a a little windy but the sun was out, so we thought it might be fun for Sammy to play in the grass for a little bit.  This probably would have been a great idea if only I had remembered that this was Sammy's first time playing on grass; had I realized this, I probably would have expected him to be a little weirded out by the new experience, but it kind of took me by surprise.  It was pretty funny, actually; Sammy would lean over to put his hands on the ground and then quickly pick them back up again, freaked out by the texture of the blades of grass against his skin.  This went on for nearly fifteen minutes until Kathryn decided that she would teach Sammy that he had nothing to fear.

Sammy never did actually crawl on the grass but by the end of our time there he was at least smiling and enjoying himself.  I guess grass exposure is something that I'll have to work on with him; I just figured that curiosity would get the best of him and that would be that, but Sammy apparently had other ideas.  Our visit was much, much too short as Kathryn had to head home to finish up some school work, but I'm glad that we were able to get together and catch up even if it was only for a few hours.