It doesn't take much longer for me to realize that my bachelor-fa¬ther lifestyle probably isn't great for Nic, and so I take a break from dating. Determined to stop repeating the embarrassing and enor¬mously painful mistakes New Orlean Saints jerseys that led to my divorce and odier failed rela¬tionships, I enter a period of singlehood, self-reflection, and therapy.
Our lives are quieter.
On weekends, we take walks around the Embarcadero and up Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower; ride the cable car to Chinatown for dim sum and firecrackers; with our neighbors, Nic's unofficial godfathers, go to movies at the Castro Theatre, where an organist plays "Whisde While You Work" and "San Francisco" on a gilded Wurlitzer before the shows. We ride BART to Berkeley and walk down Telegraph Avenue, watching out for such regulars as the woman with Philadelphia Eagles Jerseys dozens of slices of toast pinned onto her clothing and Minnesota Vikings jerseys the Sensitive Naked Man who nonchalandy strolls by.
On weekday evenings, after Nic does his homework, we play games. We often cook together. And read. Nic loves books: A Wrin¬kle in Time, Roald Dahl, The Outsiders, The Hobbit. One night, on the occasion of one of Nic's many unbirthday parties — dicse San Diego Chargers Jerseys are popular football jerseys after we read Alice in Wonderland and Through the Look- ing Glass — we set the table formally, placing stuffed animals at each setting. Wc dine with the stuffed animals, sitting like sultans on pillows.
One summer evening in 1989,1 am at a friend's dinner party, New York Giants Jerseys seated opposite a woman from Manhattan who is visiting her parents in Marin County. Karen, with dark brown hair and wearing a plain black dress, is a painter. She also writes and illustrates children's books. Karen says she is flying back to New York tomorrow, and I mention that I am going there next week to conduct an interview. There is New England Patriots Jerseys awkward silence. My friend sitting near me hands me a slip of paper and a pen, whispering in my ear, "Get her phone number."
I do.
The next day I call her at her parents' house. I hear her tell her mother to say that she isn't home, but her mother ignores her, handing over die telephone.
Yes, she says, she will meet Cleveland Browns Jerseys me when I come to New York.
Our first cautious date is at a friend's party on throwback jerseys the Upper East Side. The Fine Young Cannibals play NFL jerseys on the music system, waiters circulate with trays of Champagne and canapes, and then, though it is a sweltering night, I walk her the length of Manhattan to her downtown loft. It takes a couple hours, during which time we do not stop talking. Whenever we come upon an all-night grocer)', we get Popsicles. It's dawn when we say good night at her front door.
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