Cut the umbilical cord – it’s time to leave Brooklyn. In the overpacked Volvo, we drive up Third Street, turning right onto Seventh Avenue. Oooh, look at all the new stuff between 14th and 15th Street…Blue Apron, a brick oven pizza place in the works, Toast…

Cut the umbilical cord – it’s time to leave Brooklyn. We turn left onto the Prospect Expressway, passing a new condo development on Seventh. It’s looks a bit like a motel but it’s still under construction.

From the Prospect we see the edge of Windsor Terrace and Kensington looking very spiffy. Maybe we should’ve bought there. Real estate regrets plague me as we drive east toward Coney Island.

Cut the umbilical cord it’s time to leave Brooklyn. We come out of the Prospect onto Ocean Parkway, a veritable smorgasbord of new Mchouses, synagogues-in-progress, condos. So much to see.

Brighton Beach in the distance, and Coney Island beyond, we get onto the Belt Parkway and drive past mysterious Brooklyn: Sheepshead Bay, a riding academy, small beaches that look cool, a suburban style mall on the left (where are we, again?).

I call my son on my cell phone. He planned to stay in Brooklyn for another couple of days while we were at the beach. His plans have changed. "Do you want me to pick you up?" I say. "I thought you were in Sag Harbor already," he says.  "No, we haven’t left Brooklyn (though we’re within spitting distance of Queens. We’ll come home and get you."

It really is hard to leave Brooklyn. We exit the Parkway and get back on. Going the other way. We exit at Flatbush Avenue this time. Stop and go traffic, Kings Highway, Brooklyn College, Carribean Flatbush Avenue, Lefferts in the distance, the Public Library, Grand Army Plaza.

Hot, we are tired. Already. My daughter is saying whining: Why do we have to pick him up? Couldn’t he meet us out there…"

We pull up to Third Street. "Back so soon?" a neighbor says. We re-pack the Volvo adding bass guitars, an amp, a small duffel bag, etc.

Cut the umbilical cord, it really is time to leave Brooklyn. I sleep all the way to the Southern State Parkway. Don’t notice a thing.  So good to get away…