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When you have the opportunity to do something with your loved ones, take it

By Teresa Santoski - Tete-a-tete | Nov 7, 2020

Photo courtesy of SID CEASER PHOTOGRAPHY Shown is writer and humorist Teresa Santoski.

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, chances are you may be reflecting on the things that you are thankful for. I personally am thankful for relatively reliable Wi-Fi, fuzzy socks and last year’s holiday season.

Instead of having a more traditional celebration, we took a weekend trip to New York City as a family Christmas gift. We actually took the trip before Thanksgiving, but it certainly felt like Christmas due to the tree already being lit in Rockefeller Center and various storefronts already being decorated for the holiday.

Who would have imagined that that would be one of the last times our entire immediate family was together – me, my parents, my siblings and their significant others – without having to practice social distancing?

In lieu of the stockings we would normally receive on Christmas morning, Mom put together goody bags containing candy and toiletries. At the time, my favorite items in my goody bag were a woodsy scented room spray and an exfoliating lip scrub.

Once the pandemic hit and sanitizers of all kinds were in short supply, my favorite item quickly became the pocket hand sanitizer. Thankfully, I had barely used it.

We packed as many experiences into our weekend trip as we could, doing things that would be unimaginable today. We started off with a group tour of the United Nations, after which we enjoyed lunch in the Delegates Dining Room with numerous other diners.

That evening, we waited outside with crowds of fellow theatergoers before filing into Radio City Music Hall to watch the Rockettes perform in the Christmas Spectacular. It was hard to say who was squeezed together more closely – the audience in their seats or the Rockettes in their famous kickline.

The next day, we took the elevators all the way up to the Top of the Rock, where we enjoyed some amazing views of the city from the observation decks atop 30 Rockefeller Plaza. At Mom’s insistence, we posed for numerous family photos.

We might be squinting a bit due to the bright sunlight, but everyone’s faces are clearly visible. These photos have been unexpectedly helpful in reminding me of what Oldest Younger Brother and Sister-in-law look like, as for the most part, I’ve since only seen them with masks on.

Perhaps the most shocking thing we did on our trip – something I doubt I’d ever be comfortable doing again – was taking advantage of a photo op at a recreation of the “Today” show set near the NBC Store.

We took turns sitting at the desk, smiling for the camera as we held up the trademark mugs. And not one of us thought about how many people had touched those mugs and took pains to use our pocket hand sanitizers afterward. In retrospect, it makes my skin crawl a bit to think about all those germs.

Our trip concluded with a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where Dad paid for the tickets and put his debit card back in his wallet without wiping it down first.

We made the most of our time in the museum, seeking out masterpieces like “Washington Crossing the Delaware” by Emanuel Leutze and Dali’s “Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus)” and taking pictures in front of the rebuilt Temple of Dendur.

One of my favorite exhibits was a painted portrait of one of our ancestors on Mom’s side of the family in the American Wing. Mom has always been big on taking family photographs, and this just proves that that’s been a family trait for generations.

And thanks to Mom, our trip is extremely well documented. Though my face was definitely cramping at the time due to having to smile so much, it’s nice to be able to look back through those photos and relive those memories, especially given the uncertainty our family is facing going into the holiday season this year.

Due to the health issues of various family members, it’s unlikely that we’ll be able to celebrate all together the way we have in years past. And that makes last year’s celebration even more special.

There’s never a perfect time to have that get-together, take that trip, do that thing. We tend to put it off, thinking there’s always next week, next month, next year.

But if you marked out 2020 as the year that you would finally do something special with your loved ones, chances are you didn’t get to do it. In fact, you might have to wait a long time to do it, and when you do get to do it, the experience will have been modified because of the pandemic and won’t be quite the same.

When you have the opportunity to do something with your loved ones, take it. The timing may not be the most convenient, or perhaps your finances won’t be quite where you’d like them to be, but the memories will be worth it.

My parents have always been big proponents of doing things even if life circumstances aren’t ideal, and I’m so thankful for that, because otherwise our family would’ve missed out on a lot of amazing memories.

The only thing worse than not having the opportunity to do something with your loved ones is to pass up the opportunity and then wish you had taken it.

Although, if you do ever have the opportunity to sit at the fake “Today” show desk and pose with their trademark mugs, I feel like you can pass that up without regrets. Unless you bring a lot of hand sanitizer.

Tete-a-tete is published monthly. Teresa Santoski can be reached at tsantoski@gmail.com or via www.teresasantoski.com.

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