About Last Night

Philharmonic in the Park!

So glad I decided to get out on the UWS after returning from an earlier evening event and walk east through Central Park, just to see whether I might be able to find a spot so late. I had this event on my calendar, but had had second thoughts, because of the rain, because I had no one to accompany me... I needn't have fretted - the Great Lawn is, indeed, great and large. And the day's  showers didn't leave the ground as wet or muddy as I'd worried. The temperature and evening were pretty ideal for being outside.

Sure, the acoustics could have been better, but it's a park, after all. And when I moved closer to the front toward the speakers, the sound was decidedly clearer, and the din of my fellow thousands of picnicking and chatting  concertgoers was less distracting. I guess it pays to go early and stake out a good spot in the range of the speakers - but then you contend with the elements for longer, have to bring food, comfy seating, gather company... My impromptu stop-in was just right for the time I was willing to commit (virtually none), and equipment I was willing to carry through my day at work and to other events (minimal - rolled up rain pants), and level of interest in symphonic orchestral music (passing, at best) - so, it was perfect for me for this NYC summer rite of passage.

It was a different experience from the last time I did this, long ago, as a summer associate event with the last law firm. Back then, the recruiting staff went first to stake spots. Everyone had matching firm-branded beach towels as take home favors. There were boxed picnic dinners and wine. There were about ten of us, whiling away the wait time by playing Trivial Pursuit, an early 1980s version in the early 2010s, and laughing audibly enough at the clearly no longer correct answers that other concertgoers hushed us, repeatedly. The partner that I followed through my law firm career was healthy then, and enjoyed that outing so.

THAT, older, version of attending Philharmonic in the Park is the quintessential one, the rosy gossamer ideal of free New York City summer cultural entertainment. It all appeared so corporate recruitment brochure photoworthy. It was, in part, that memory, the inability to replicate that idealized experience, that made me hesitate to attend this year.

But I was already not happy back then, logging too much time at the office. Tonight, I had no company, no food, no towel, no companion. But I had time - to attend TWO after work events, to be spontaneous, to work the event into my life and my schedule my way. And when the first vantage point was not fantastic, I got up and moved myself to a better one. And, again, at the end of the evening, for a better view of the finale fireworks.

Not so stuck in one place anymore. Fitting my experienced life to my reality. That's a nice change.