I begin this post with an apology. Every time I come into NYC I have these grand plans to see each and every person I have ever known. You can imagine how well that works out…

I’m really not a flake. Not at all. In fact, I am actually excellent at making and keeping plans. I tend to be early for dinners and meetings, and it takes a lot for me to cancel. But I find that whenever I land in the Big Apple, I get overwhelmed. I should have bigger problems than trying to get face time with a huge list of amazing friends and family, right?

Still, I’m totally torn up over it.

We flew into town on Thursday night, and barely had anything lined up for our 11 days in town. Michael was thrilled, since I usually drag him around from bar to restaurant to club to Cozy Soup & Burger during our trips up north. After we landed and dropped our luggage off at our apartment downtown, we decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner out. We argued between Blue Ribbon (my choice) and Blue Hill (Michael’s fave). He won. After an outstanding meal of  salad and butternut squash “steak”  for me, roasted veggies and venison for Michael, and a mega-celebrity sighting (Ed Norton, Naomi Campbell, Lance Armstrong and QTip breaking bread together), we strolled through Washington Square Park to meet our friend Jon at Fat Cat. Home by 11 pm, we were so proud at our quiet “adult” evening.

Too bad that didn’t last.

The next day, after doing a kick-ass barre class with Kate Bohner at FlyWheel Sports in Flatiron, I started doing what I always do – texting and calling all of my NYC friends and making tons of plans. Suddenly, I had triple booked us for drinks that night and we had lunch, dinner and drink plans for every single one of our evenings in town. Unfortunately, I was also battling a really nasty upper respiratory infection, so I was already run down and exhausted, before I even had one sip of my Ketel One and soda at our local watering hole, Black & White.

I’m not saying that I didn’t enjoy our Saturday night dinner at Bar Pitti and dancing at Tzigan because I did. But by Sunday morning, I was wiped out and even slept til 11 am, college-style. It wasn’t even an option for me to lift my head from the pillow any earlier. Thankfully, we were heading out to Long Island that day for a Jets party with the O’Hanlon clan so I got a break from my own crazy plans. I didn’t touch a single drop of booze and we even had a fabulous snack at Otto when we got back into the City after the game. You know, to celebrate Gang Green’s big win.

The week carried on and, not shockingly, my cold persisted. Begrudgingly, I was forced to make that dreaded call and cancel on a few friends. It was just too much and I needed rest. But I was gutted over it. After a lowkey dinner a deux with Michael at Kanoyama on Monday night (what, was I supposed to stay home and eat in? We have a 400 square foot studio – no way), I found myself tucked into bed at 10 o’clock. But I was filled with guilt over who I should have reconnected with that night instead of wasting time to take care of my poor health. It was all in my own head, obviously. No one gave me grief over not going out but I just felt so bad about it.

You see, I have made some really great friends in South Florida but I can count them on one and a half hands. I don’t have 29 years of history there. Up north, it’s a whole different story. I have friends from high school and college, people I met at Arthur Andersen and Ava Lounge and the gossip mags and even a few folks I’ve met since moving to Palm Beach County who go back and forth like Michael and I…and I always feel the need to see them all within a two-week visit. Unrealistic, clearly.

Every time I fly back to Delray Beach, I completely freak out and break down. After the rush of city life and getting to catch up with so many amazing people whom I have known for years and years, nothing can compare. But I just wish that I didn’t have so little time to see so many friends. And so I send out my deepest apologies to anyone I wasn’t able to see, or even worse, made plans with and canceled on. It’s not personal, really. It’s not you, it’s me. I have been trying to learn how to slow down and not try to do so much at once. I think it’s time I applied that to my social life as well. I might just be better company to my friends – and most definitely to myself.