I've been back to New York loads of times since I left more than 25 years ago. But this is the first time that I'll be there with kids.
When I was a kid -- and even a younger adult -- I didn't think much about being a dad. So, it never really occurred to me that someday I'd be back in my hometown with little ones in tow.
Now that I have them and I'm older, I feel some ingrown need to show them where I lived when I was little like they are. However, I'm not really sure it will happen so much this time 'round.
They're so young that getting around with them on a very short trip won't be easy, so I'm not going to overdo it. That means no 45-minute or hour-long subway ride out to Brooklyn to see the old block or even a little further out to see Coney Island. No, I'll save those for a trip I hope to take with them in the future (a trip that I hope won't bore the pants off them).
This visit was born out of a desire to take my son to see the Mets play at Citi Field. If we couldn't get there to close out the past by seeing the last season of my boyhood ballpark, I wanted to at least kick off the future by celebrating the opening of the new one together. Hey, I'm nothing if not sentimental like that.
Maybe I can at least take the family to see where my dad and grandparents were born and / or grew up in the West Village and show them some places we used to go, too -- like Rockefeller Center at Christmas (although of course, it will have to be Christmas in July on this trip) and Mulberry Street for the Feast of San Gennaro.
What one of my kids is really looking forward to is visiting the Statue of Liberty, one of his current preferred landmarks. (My indisputed favorite American landmark / tourist site -- Ellis Island -- will have to wait 'til next time.)
So, for the first time in a long time, I'll be a tourist in New York and even if, at times, it will seem challenging, I'll be happy to be able to share America's unmistakably world-class city with my kids ... and if it all goes to plan, we'll come home with plenty of Mr. Met T-shirts in assorted sizes.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
