Jolee and Cy and Cg Take Manhattan (April 1998)

On Saturday, Jolee attended Melanie's 10th high school reunion and had
quite a blast. The day was made more exciting with the attendance of
Ying Lam, Melanie's old classmate, and her two boys Cy (pronounced Kai)
and Cg (pronounced Seej). For those of you not aware of the origins of
Jolee lore, in late December 1995, Ying brought the infant Cy to
Melanie's workplace at the Sesame Street store in West L.A. His overall
cuteness that day is credited with Melanie and my sudden change of heart
as to when we would start a family. Eight months later, Jolee arrived.

Thus, it was quite fun to see the two partners-in-crime running around
the massive expanse of the Columbia Prep & Grammar School gymnasium.

The high point of the day came later when the three adults and the three
toddlers all crammed into a taxi to trek from West to East Manhattan.
You would think the front seat of a New York City cab would not be the
safest place in the world, but imagine, Melanie and Ying in the back
seat with Jolee, Cy, and Cg on their laps. I was thankful for the ten
minutes of relaxation. Relaxation I clearly needed when the cab stopped
and popped the trunk, and the crazed woman in the car behind us made
inappropriate gestures and hollered things about my parents that I won't
repeat here. (I think I did set the 2-stroller and a backpack trunk
removal record for 1998).

If I had notions of the day winding down, I was sadly mistaken. We
rolled up to an apartment building and through the tranquil lobby and up
the elevator to Mel and Ying's friend Vibeke's (pronounced Vee-buh-kuh)
apartment, where in a matter of seconds, a quiet evening of six young
adults drinking wine, was transformed into a chaotic scene of Monty
Pythonesque proportions. Take three young children, add two large cats,
and a small apartment, and the result is melee. The cats were
immediately chased wildly about by the kids yelling 'CAT CAT CAT" over
and over.

In the end, no one was hurt, nothing was broken and fun was had by all.
Vibeke learned that her apartment is not child-proof and that her cats
have a high tolerance for harassment. Other friends Alicia and Josh
learned that it will be a long time before they invite three young
feline terrorists to their home. Vibeke's brother Robert and his lovely
newlywed wife (whose name I have forgotten, I apologize) learned that
it's okay to wait a while before deciding to start a family. Melanie and
Ying learned that it's fun to be able to watch your children wreck havoc
in someone else's space, as long as that person doesn't mind (Vibeke was
a gracious host---and welcome to the What did Jolee Do? mailing list
Vibeke!) And I learned that as exhausting as it may have been (hint: I
spent all of Sunday, in bed, recovering), it was worth it to see Cy
struggling to crawl into a cat carrier as Jolee used his back as a
step-stool to help her into the cat carrier stacked on top of the other.
What the cats thought of this spectacle, as they perched on top of a
bookcase, which Cg kept trying to climb, is another story all together.