Hybrid mode, meaning being able to be present at the places where life is calling you while working in a different location. In other words: both sides. On one side, the working me, ubiquitous by default. On the other side, I am dropping off my daughter Lulu at college. It is her second year as a Fashion Design student at Parsons; New York, New York. Yes, you have to say it twice and it still will be very far from being enough.
Eight hours of flight that go by in a moment. My laptop wouldn’t agree. It is desperately rebooting. As soon as we leave the plane, a slap of life and human nature. Three and a half hours to get out of the airport and arrive in Manhattan. West 28th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues is paved with flowers. I mean it! Floor 46 -the very top of the hotel- and an impressive view. One World and the Statue of Liberty on the horizon. Once again, the literature of the views has been more powerful than the discomfort of the elevator that takes a lifetime to go up and down at rush hour.
And we are out. The other side is sleeping. Or so it seems. A bright moon in its canonical form keeps us company along the way as we visit Lulu´s friend apartment, collecting her things to take them to her new place. Life behind the windows as it actually is. Girls meeting again after the summer break, starting over. Laughs, hugs, and high hopes all over the place. Mothers looking at them with proud eyes, an open smile and a clear resemblance of who we used to be at their age. Life, lots of life!
Coming back to the hotel, the other side is waking up. I cautiously approach the laptop. My goodness, what madness! We were already crazy but this is definitely another level. The usual, plus generative AI. The usual, plus I have no idea how I should organize an agenda that was already pretty packed before this. The usual, plus… I better stop or I will bug out. One thing is for sure: more than a Copilot I will need a clone. Isabel, Isabel.
I close the laptop and throw myself into the bed. I will think about that tomorrow. But tomorrow where? On this side or on the other? After all, this is the city that never sleeps. I am calling it a night and, at the same time, I am greeting a new day someplace in the Greenwich and Central European Time zones.
As I wake up, I deliver three value assessments that can’t wait, and then I find some peace of mind revisiting the Frick Collection. An amazing selection in a temporary location while Frick’s building is being renovated. I miss some paintings. It is a pity that we can’t see the entire collection. Lulu likes it though. She says that she is done with all The MET overexcitement. And keeps me overthinking…
Three hours of generative AI training in three days with two time-zone options. I attend day two and option one before taking the Roosevelt Island Tramway. Another point of view. A couple of ideas come to my mind that I jot down on my phone. We can call it generative walking.
The usual working meetings with customers. Six in three days. The feedback and the homework. Again Generative AI, plus productivity KPIs, plus budget restrictions, plus security and risk management, plus all of them put together. General excitement and general concerns.
Crossing paths with strangers as I walk through the streets of the Lower East Side and NoMad. It is very easy to talk to people in New York. Sometimes a couple of phrases as I pass by. Sometimes a couple of minutes in which I get to capture a glimpse of their lives. Treasures in their words: …Not so bad… Actually, pretty good… I think about the power of language depending on how we use it. A whole world of nuances and moods in those ellipses. Godspeed wishes.
In that mix-up of yesterday-today-tomorrow, it is Friday night in New York City. The weekend is here. A dinner with a colleague -and friend- and her husband at a Mexican restaurant in the Bowery. Then, a Saturday morning in Williamsburg as a nice possibility for a future life. And at 13:30, a table for four at an Italian restaurant on East 12th Street. Two mothers and our two daughters talking about the summer and our lives in Hawaii and Madrid. New York, here and now, six hours away from each.
Here comes Sunday! And the sun! The subway to Coney Island, the original Luna Park and the beach, all carrying their load of nostalgia and kitsch.
Melancholy hits me as I return to Manhattan to run last-minute errands and pack my suitcase. I look at the city from our top floor window, by my daughter’s side. New York is waving its goodbyes with one of its breathtaking sunsets. While the sun falls, and lights twinkle as the day turns into night, I bring my sister in. She is in Seville. And also here, just in this space between Lulu and me. She loves sunsets and New York. And distance was never a matter of miles.
Monday, Monday… It is time to fly back. Life is calling from across the ocean. It is my son Manu, the other half of my Twins Corporation, pursuing a new path in Laws and International Relations at IE University. I drop my daughter off at her first class of the semester. I am holding her tight. And holding back my tears. What could I say? It is never easy to let go.
On my way to the airport, I think about different strategies to gain control over my life, which right now feels like chaos. Narrowing my focus could be a good one until I find some balance. In fact, it is a technique used in emergency situations. What about three things? Definitely, this is what I need to do! I have no idea what those three things could be though. I mean, only three?
Okay. Let’s try a different approach. Let’s create a bridge between now and something bright and good in the future. Yeah! I got this! Between the not so bad and the actually pretty good, and all the nuances and moods in between, I am now crossing the words from side to side, and sticking to the good.
New York, New York. Always twice. The perfect metaphor for life and human nature, at their best and worst. Inevitably, my other side.
PRESENT CONTINUOUS 