Naomi told me she hates having her picture taken. She and I are kindred spirits in that sense. I think she looks wonderful in this photo. I started talking with her because she was wearing this really cool jacket (note in photo), and on the back it said "The Manhattans". Come to find out, it was an R&B group that she was involved with (she was on the Executive team). She got on the train in Grand Central wearing this jacket, looking all cool-like and I told myself I wanted a photo with her. But it took me almost the entire ride today to work up the nerve to ask her. Finally I did, and am I glad.
She told me the story of how she got her jacket ("It was a surprise - they gave everybody one.") and shared a little bit about the group. Then we talked about the weather, hurricanes and such. After a review of all the damage we've been reading about in the newspaper (Naomi made sure to bring her New York Times and New Yorker with her), we started making jokes about what in the world is going on. We were laughing at the idea that G-d is saying, "Enough already!"
I told her the joke about the guy who is stuck on a mountain when a huge flood comes, waiting for G-d to help him. A raft passes by, he waves it away. A helicopter passes by, he sends it off. A boat arrives, he doesn't get on. Each time he tells his rescuer, "I'm fine, G-d's going to save me." Finally, he finds himself standing in front of G-d and he asks G-d "What happened?" G-d responds, "I sent you a raft, a helicopter, and a boat. What more do you want?"
After we recovered from our laughter and jokes about the Ten Plagues, Naomi then said, "It's only life if we can still laugh."
Indeed. Naomi, you rock. And I hope you get to see this.
After recovering from my long journey on the rail, I rode out on my bike. I left a bit of art in the sunshine.
