My Jewish Guardian Angel in TriBeCa
I cannot believe it has taken me like 9 months to write a post about this story, it is literally my favourite story to tell ever.
I worked in a summer camp in summer 2013 in Southampton, a town which is part of "The Hamptons" on the South Fork of Long Island, New York, USA. My adventures last summer are actually why I started blogging and I have lots of posts about my Summer in The Hamptons if you wana check them out. Ok so the camp I worked at was only a day camp which meant we had evenings and weekends off. This was great at the start because my group of friends and I always hung out and did lots of different things like going to the beach and the local bars. But of course this became a bit old and because we didn't have a car we found ourselves just sitting in the cabins and watching movies. Which I loved by the way, don't get me wrong but I just wanted to do something a bit more. I heard that other girls had got some local babysitting jobs from kids at camp and thought that would be quite a fun job on the side. So I joined one of the local babysitting websites and came across Miriam.
She had 3 boys and lived in Watermill which was a village right next to Southampton so not very far from where I was staying. Her husband Peter was away on business quite a lot so she just needed an extra pair of hands really. She offered to come pick me up and drop me off after helping her with the boys so I accepted. Miriam needed me around as more of a mother's helper, not a babysitter. So I just helped her out with the kids and I loved that as it meant that I got to know her really well. I fell in love with the boys and grew very close to them over the summer, as well as Miriam. She was more like an older sister figure than my employer. We just got on super well and I just adored the boys, they were so adorable.
I was supposed to go travelling with my friend after camp so I booked my flights home for 2 weeks after post camp had ended. Turns out that plans just weren't financially ideal at the time for either of us so we had to cancel. I then started to panic as I didn't have enough money to stay in a hotel or to feed myself for that extra two weeks. I told Miriam that I was going to have to change my flight home and just go home early. She suggested that I stay with her and her family for a week in Watermill and then go back to NYC with them where they live during the year. I was so grateful but I didn't want to intrude on their lives but she was more than happy as it meant that I could still help her out.
So after camp ended I moved in with them in The Hamptons and a week later travelled to New York City with the whole family. Their apartment was in TriBeCa and my goodness, it was just gorgeous. Miriam took me shopping the next day to get a map of the subway and a 7 day ticket for unlimited travel. I got up early every morning and just explored the city by myself. Miriam had so much going on with the kids being at school and different activities like soccer and after school programmes so unfortunately she couldn't show me around but she did take the time to write down places for me everyday. I did get to see the majority of what I wanted to see but with my ankle being totally messed up it meant that I missed out on seeing a few things as it was just too sore so I would have to call it a day.
Miriam and Peter took the boys back to The Hamptons that weekend as the weather was still gorgeous and they wanted them to enjoy being out of the city as much as they could. They left on the Friday and my flight home was on Saturday. I had enough money to get the subway to JFK and for my extra baggage charge but that was pretty much it. So my plan was to walk to the subway as it wasn't too far away and just start to make my way home. My luggage was just ridiculous, I had two big huge suitcases, a mini suitcase as my carry-on and a backpack. I have no idea how I thought I could manage this by myself but for some reason I thought I was a lot stronger than I am lol.
So after making sure that I had packed everything, I wrote the family a lovely letter and left their apartment key on the table. Now their key was to a lift that took you to that certain floor but you could only get to it if you had the key. So without this key there is no way of getting into their apartment as they don't have a front door, just the door to the lift. I loaded my first big suitcase and carry-on into the lift with my backpack on my back. Just as I set one of the bags down, the lift doors closed behind me. I literally wish I could see the CCTV footage of that lift because my face literally dropped! I had left the key on the table which meant that the lift took me down to the ground floor and would not go back up. I had no idea what to do so I had a MASSIVE panic attack in the lift and just started crying hysterically. Miriam was a 2 hour drive away from the city and their landlord didn't even live in America so there was no way of getting in contact with him.
I honestly must have stood in the lift for like 15 minutes just not knowing what to do. I then calmed myself down and set my bags outside the lift in the building because you still needed a code to get into it so I thought they would be safe just sitting there. I tried the emergency stairway on the other side of the building hoping that they had maybe forgot to lock their back door but of course no luck. I sat on the stairs for a few minutes thinking about my options; should I just leave my suitcase and have to pay Miriam like a million dollars to get it posted home? This didn't actually seem like a bad idea, I know it would have been a lot of money but I didn't really have another option. Plus it was the suitcase that I had put everyones presents in so I was really upset that I might not be able to give them to my friends and family when I got home. Then I remembered that our next door neighbour has a key to my house at home and I knew it might be a bit of a long shot but it was worth a try. So I climbed the stairs to the next floor and knocked the door very loudly. A man appeared and before I could even explain to him what had happened, I just burst into tears again. I finally was able to mumble what the situation was and he rang Peter, he obviously couldn't just let some total stranger into their apartment in case I was just mentally ill or something. He then went and got a spare key and let me use the lift, I got to their floor and grabbed my bag. THANK GOODNESS!!!
I thanked him over and over again and I couldn't believe how lucky I had been that he was at home at that moment, it was a very small building and there were only two other tenants besides Miriam and her family. I was a very lucky duck that day, what if he was at work? So I made my way out of the building and headed towards the subway stop. It was honestly the most difficult thing I had ever tried to do, pulling the two large suitcases behind me, plus the smaller one with the same hand. It was so tiring on my arm and the suitcase wheels kept getting caught in cracks and things on the pavement. A lady stopped me and asked me if I needed help, I usually don't say yes because I apparently think I am superwoman but I accepted. She took one of my larger bags and we got chatting. I told her I was making my way home back to Ireland and was telling her about my time at camp etc. She stopped me and asked where I was going and I said to the subway to get a connecting train to JFK. She looked at me like I was mad and asked how I was getting all these bags down and up the very steep subway steps. I told her I would be fine and that I would manage somehow, which I TOTALLY wouldn't have by the way. She continued to help me by wheeling my bag until we got to the top of the street and she said something about it being Jewish holiday (Sept 14th) and that she was in such a good mood. She flagged down a cab and handed me $60. I tried to refuse as I was completely over-whelmed and shocked by her generosity. But she insisted and my eyes welled up with tears because I just couldn't believe how kind she was. I asked her for her email address or some form of contact so that I could repay her as soon as I got home but she said no, she just wanted to do something nice for a stranger.
I know that the horrific situation with the lift was totally traumatic and terrifying but if it hadn't happened then I would not have ran into that woman in the street. Isn't it mad when you think of it like that? Timing is everything.
Seriously is that not a crazy case of Karma? And it all happened within like 20 minutes. If I wasn't in love with NYC before meeting that woman then I 1000% was now. I am so disappointed that I didn't even get her name but maybe our paths will cross again one day and I can pay her for being so amazing. We need more people like her in the world, people willing to help out someone they don't even know.
If you guys have any heart warming stories like this then please let me know, i'd love to hear them.
Later skaters
Love S xoxo
I worked in a summer camp in summer 2013 in Southampton, a town which is part of "The Hamptons" on the South Fork of Long Island, New York, USA. My adventures last summer are actually why I started blogging and I have lots of posts about my Summer in The Hamptons if you wana check them out. Ok so the camp I worked at was only a day camp which meant we had evenings and weekends off. This was great at the start because my group of friends and I always hung out and did lots of different things like going to the beach and the local bars. But of course this became a bit old and because we didn't have a car we found ourselves just sitting in the cabins and watching movies. Which I loved by the way, don't get me wrong but I just wanted to do something a bit more. I heard that other girls had got some local babysitting jobs from kids at camp and thought that would be quite a fun job on the side. So I joined one of the local babysitting websites and came across Miriam.
She had 3 boys and lived in Watermill which was a village right next to Southampton so not very far from where I was staying. Her husband Peter was away on business quite a lot so she just needed an extra pair of hands really. She offered to come pick me up and drop me off after helping her with the boys so I accepted. Miriam needed me around as more of a mother's helper, not a babysitter. So I just helped her out with the kids and I loved that as it meant that I got to know her really well. I fell in love with the boys and grew very close to them over the summer, as well as Miriam. She was more like an older sister figure than my employer. We just got on super well and I just adored the boys, they were so adorable.
I was supposed to go travelling with my friend after camp so I booked my flights home for 2 weeks after post camp had ended. Turns out that plans just weren't financially ideal at the time for either of us so we had to cancel. I then started to panic as I didn't have enough money to stay in a hotel or to feed myself for that extra two weeks. I told Miriam that I was going to have to change my flight home and just go home early. She suggested that I stay with her and her family for a week in Watermill and then go back to NYC with them where they live during the year. I was so grateful but I didn't want to intrude on their lives but she was more than happy as it meant that I could still help her out.
So after camp ended I moved in with them in The Hamptons and a week later travelled to New York City with the whole family. Their apartment was in TriBeCa and my goodness, it was just gorgeous. Miriam took me shopping the next day to get a map of the subway and a 7 day ticket for unlimited travel. I got up early every morning and just explored the city by myself. Miriam had so much going on with the kids being at school and different activities like soccer and after school programmes so unfortunately she couldn't show me around but she did take the time to write down places for me everyday. I did get to see the majority of what I wanted to see but with my ankle being totally messed up it meant that I missed out on seeing a few things as it was just too sore so I would have to call it a day.
Miriam and Peter took the boys back to The Hamptons that weekend as the weather was still gorgeous and they wanted them to enjoy being out of the city as much as they could. They left on the Friday and my flight home was on Saturday. I had enough money to get the subway to JFK and for my extra baggage charge but that was pretty much it. So my plan was to walk to the subway as it wasn't too far away and just start to make my way home. My luggage was just ridiculous, I had two big huge suitcases, a mini suitcase as my carry-on and a backpack. I have no idea how I thought I could manage this by myself but for some reason I thought I was a lot stronger than I am lol.
So after making sure that I had packed everything, I wrote the family a lovely letter and left their apartment key on the table. Now their key was to a lift that took you to that certain floor but you could only get to it if you had the key. So without this key there is no way of getting into their apartment as they don't have a front door, just the door to the lift. I loaded my first big suitcase and carry-on into the lift with my backpack on my back. Just as I set one of the bags down, the lift doors closed behind me. I literally wish I could see the CCTV footage of that lift because my face literally dropped! I had left the key on the table which meant that the lift took me down to the ground floor and would not go back up. I had no idea what to do so I had a MASSIVE panic attack in the lift and just started crying hysterically. Miriam was a 2 hour drive away from the city and their landlord didn't even live in America so there was no way of getting in contact with him.
I honestly must have stood in the lift for like 15 minutes just not knowing what to do. I then calmed myself down and set my bags outside the lift in the building because you still needed a code to get into it so I thought they would be safe just sitting there. I tried the emergency stairway on the other side of the building hoping that they had maybe forgot to lock their back door but of course no luck. I sat on the stairs for a few minutes thinking about my options; should I just leave my suitcase and have to pay Miriam like a million dollars to get it posted home? This didn't actually seem like a bad idea, I know it would have been a lot of money but I didn't really have another option. Plus it was the suitcase that I had put everyones presents in so I was really upset that I might not be able to give them to my friends and family when I got home. Then I remembered that our next door neighbour has a key to my house at home and I knew it might be a bit of a long shot but it was worth a try. So I climbed the stairs to the next floor and knocked the door very loudly. A man appeared and before I could even explain to him what had happened, I just burst into tears again. I finally was able to mumble what the situation was and he rang Peter, he obviously couldn't just let some total stranger into their apartment in case I was just mentally ill or something. He then went and got a spare key and let me use the lift, I got to their floor and grabbed my bag. THANK GOODNESS!!!
I thanked him over and over again and I couldn't believe how lucky I had been that he was at home at that moment, it was a very small building and there were only two other tenants besides Miriam and her family. I was a very lucky duck that day, what if he was at work? So I made my way out of the building and headed towards the subway stop. It was honestly the most difficult thing I had ever tried to do, pulling the two large suitcases behind me, plus the smaller one with the same hand. It was so tiring on my arm and the suitcase wheels kept getting caught in cracks and things on the pavement. A lady stopped me and asked me if I needed help, I usually don't say yes because I apparently think I am superwoman but I accepted. She took one of my larger bags and we got chatting. I told her I was making my way home back to Ireland and was telling her about my time at camp etc. She stopped me and asked where I was going and I said to the subway to get a connecting train to JFK. She looked at me like I was mad and asked how I was getting all these bags down and up the very steep subway steps. I told her I would be fine and that I would manage somehow, which I TOTALLY wouldn't have by the way. She continued to help me by wheeling my bag until we got to the top of the street and she said something about it being Jewish holiday (Sept 14th) and that she was in such a good mood. She flagged down a cab and handed me $60. I tried to refuse as I was completely over-whelmed and shocked by her generosity. But she insisted and my eyes welled up with tears because I just couldn't believe how kind she was. I asked her for her email address or some form of contact so that I could repay her as soon as I got home but she said no, she just wanted to do something nice for a stranger.
I know that the horrific situation with the lift was totally traumatic and terrifying but if it hadn't happened then I would not have ran into that woman in the street. Isn't it mad when you think of it like that? Timing is everything.
Seriously is that not a crazy case of Karma? And it all happened within like 20 minutes. If I wasn't in love with NYC before meeting that woman then I 1000% was now. I am so disappointed that I didn't even get her name but maybe our paths will cross again one day and I can pay her for being so amazing. We need more people like her in the world, people willing to help out someone they don't even know.
If you guys have any heart warming stories like this then please let me know, i'd love to hear them.
Later skaters
Love S xoxo
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