Pony Bike!

After months of dashed hopes (the *perfect* bike that turned out to cost $135; the Craigslist bike that involved a trip to Bellevue so I never picked it up; the lack of correct-sized bikes at either Target or Toys-R-Us), we finally landed on The Best Bike in the Whole Wild World Because It's a Pony Bike and Comes with a Pony Helmet, a Pony Horn, Pony Tassels, and a Pony Water Bottle. I kid you not. Since yesterday morning when we clicked "purchase" on Amazon, my daughter's been coming up to me at random moments and screaming "Pony Bike!!!!"

And then, after a pause, "but when is Pony Bike going to get here?" and I have to say Wednesday or Thursday . . . which is of course an eternity, and reminds me that I have to tell her that I won't be home for a few days . . .

because I am going to be in New York City reading, with something like 19 other poets, at the The Best American Poetry 2009 release reading. [If you happen to live near NYC, the reading takes places at Tishman Auditorium at the New School. It begins at 7 pm. Each reader is being asked to read for 3 minutes, so this should cut down on the marathon aspect, though it will still be something of a marathon, but hopefully an enjoyable marathon, with lots of droll humor and more than a little spitfire.]

It will go like this: arrive in Newark just in time for the Wed. afternoon rush hour. AirTrain to midtown, dinner and all Thursday with a high school friend/playwright/librettist (she's taking me to some of her fav lower-Manhattan haunts). Thursday eve: The Reading. Friday: meet up with my best first reader/advisor/mentor extraordinaire/shoulder to cry on, etc. whom I've been emailing back and forth with these past seven years (sometimes 5x in a day) but whom I've never actually had the pleasure. My #1 pen pal come to life! Together to The Morgan Library, the Met, and some cheap wine bar or bars. Friday eve: dinner with editor/ writer/librarian high school friend, who will tuck me into bed for 5 am wake up call for trip back to Newark . . .

And with any luck the Pony Bike will have arrived, been assembled in half an hour (as the customer review promises), and I'll be walking from the light rail toward my house to find my daughter racing up and down the sidewalk yelling "Poooooooooony Bike!!!!!!!" -- the end to a perfect trip.