A Night with Family

During our visit to Manhattan last week, we managed to squeeze in a visit with some of my family. They live only a short commuter train ride away from Manhattan and seeing some of Manhattan at Christmastime sounded good to them anyway so we all met at a restaurant in the Empire State Building on our last evening in Manhattan.

Sheila's family has been growing in recent years so we've been busy with grandchildren and creating our own new family events and memories so there really has been little time for anything else. Health problems, medical appointments and hundreds of miles of distance don't help with this situation at all either. So, it has been quite a few years since we've seen any of my own family. 

After Sheila put her radiation treatment behind her, there were a number of things that moved up in priority for her, as can be expected. Seeing Manhattan at Christmastime was one of those things and getting to see my family again was another. So, once Sheila's radiation treatment was behind her and we started on a month-long break from all the cancer stuff, we arranged for a quick trip to Manhattan in the short period of time between Liza's wedding and Christmas. We've definitely been busy and not wasting any time with this new list of priorities.

Sheila, Adam and I arrived at the Empire State Building a few minutes before this particular bar had opened so we had the entire place to ourselves for a short while. Arriving here at opening time before anyone else gave us a little time to relax after our 10+ mile trek around mid-town Manhattan all day... which was nice. Although I didn't get a photo of it, I noticed that Sheila was visibly excited to see my sisters again as she closely watched the curved grand staircase to the bar waiting for their arrival. 

Sheila is still trying to wrap her head around the fact that her youngest child is now able to legally sit at a bar with us with a beer in hand...

The hot pretzels with beer cheese dip are delicious here... and a bit larger than usual...

Nieces and nephews...

Adam grabbed my camera while I was telling some story and got a rare shot of me...

Although short, we all had a great time and it was nice to have an opportunity to catch up a bit. I enjoyed it and I know Sheila enjoyed and appreciated it!

I could go for one of those hot pretzels with beer cheese dip now...