My mother said "Never talk to Strangers"

Ya know, I have zero skills when it comes to reading a map. I can never find north and south, and in general, I just have a lousy sense of direction. ( I thank my mother for this.) When I was first married and living in Provo, Dave told me that my job interview was in the next town over called Orem. I kept driving until I hit the next town and ended up in Salt Lake. ( I am not kidding. ) Anyway, one thing I can do fairly easily is talk to strangers. This skill was imperative while trying to navigate through New York.

1. While chatting on the subway, I learned that you can get greatly discounted tickets to museums just by asking. Cha Ching!

2. A nice man from Bulgaria let us know that we were definitely on the wrong train. This was not comforting since it was an express headed to the heart of Harlem. ( more on that later ) 3. An actress named Christy left the subway early just to show us around and point out her favorite pizza place. Take a good look, someday we might recognize her.



I thought I had lost my conversational skills when I sat down for "Phantom of the Opera." How many of you just started humming "Music of the Night"? Anyway, I am so glad that this was Ben's first experience with Broadway. It was fantastic! I started making small talk with the man sitting by me, and he would just smile and nod. By the time the play started I had convinced myself that he was the rudest man I had met in New York. Maybe he was sticking to the advice of not talking to strangers. When he spoke to the person on his other side. I realized it wasn't my people skills, it was that he didn't speak any English.