Mandy is here for a visit--is anyone jealous? After dinner last night, we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge as night tucked herself in over the city. Even in the dark there was a strip of clouds still blushing on the horizon behind the Statue of Liberty. Heading by foot into the Manhattan skyline makes the world feel so much bigger than me in a way that is comforting, in a way that restores perspective. I looked over at her and thought, we could be in a movie. Right now she's sitting in front of my kitchen window and writing while she rests her eyes on the lush gardens behind my building.

I want to apologize for the trash on the street, or for the muggy oppression that greets us down on the subway platform, but I stop myself most of the time because Mandy is not bothered by any of these things. Her eyes can see the magic of this place I love in a way that so many others miss, and no apologies are necessary. We stand together like explorers who have stumbled across the Great Pyramids, gazing mostly without words.

I'm traveling to Colorado before long and I wonder where my copy of Martha Beck's Expecting Adam has landed. Is it in your house? Were you hoping for a turn with it before it joins me in New York? Let me know.