Thoughtful Thursday – But for the Grace of God

My thoughts this Thursday are for my fellow Midtowners near 41st and Lexington and all those working to help them. I hope that everyone that was injured gets better quickly and my sympathies go out to anyone who lost someone in the blast.

This blog is titled “But for the Grace of God” because on any other day of the week, that could have been me. My office is but a block away and my sister and I regularly visit the Old Bridge deli on the corner of 41st and Lex because it has the best salad bar in the area.

Photo by Scott Beale / Laughing SquidWhen I leave the office, I walk down Lex to go to Penn Station and normally, I would have been at that spot right around the time the explosion occurred. Luckily I wasn’t since my daughter had been visiting her cousins in Brooklyn (she had a blast) and met me in Manhattan. Since dad was away on a business trip, we decided to do a fun dinner — Rice Pudding at Rices to Riches (you may remember this place from the movie Hitch).

So instead of walking the way I normally walk, we grabbed a subway to Spring Street and indulged on three varieties of sinfully delicious rice pudding. So sinful we couldn’t finish them and took them home.

Of course, the call came on the way home about the blast and the images on the television last night were horrible. Especially when it occurred to me that but for the Grace of God and a desire for rice pudding, my daughter and I would have been on that block right around the time the blast happened.

Anyway, here’s what greeted me this morning as thousands of workers, policemen, firefighters and emergency workers try to put Midtown back together again.

Emergency Management truck parked outside of Grand Central
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Normally busy Third Avenue is being torn up by Con Ed crews and empty
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View of Lexington and 42nd. Only work crews, police and mud all along the street.
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3 Replies to “Thoughtful Thursday – But for the Grace of God”

  1. Caridad,

    You hit the nail right on the head: “There
    but for the Grace of God.” Nuff said !!!!

    Pat Cochran.

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