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Lisa Hopkins: My Night At The Museum · STOPTIME: Live in the Moment.

• 0:23
  Lisa Hopkins: Hey there.
• 0:23
  Lisa Hopkins: So I just came across a story that I wrote about an experience I had in New York City while living on the Upper East Side about seven years ago, and I thought, instead of reading it and then editing or changing it at all, that I would read it aloud in real time, right now with you.
• 0:45
  Lisa Hopkins: So, with your permission, I'm going to go ahead and read it and see what we can discover.
• 0:50
  Lisa Hopkins: I vaguely remember the context and I'm kind of excited to read it, but I thought we could do it together and experience this, just for something different.
• 0:59
  Lisa Hopkins: Okay, here we go.
• 1:01
  Lisa Hopkins: It reads I had no idea when I walked out of my door that my evening would become so magical.
• 1:12
  Lisa Hopkins: It was around 7 pm and after nearly three days of rain and gloom, the sun started peeking out just in time to set.
• 1:21
  Lisa Hopkins: I leapt at the opportunity to cure my cabin fever and threw a jacket over my only wear these at home sweats and set off to catch the sunset over the reservoir.
• 1:33
  Lisa Hopkins: I felt instantly better as I stepped out the door.
• 1:39
  Lisa Hopkins: Everyone was out enjoying the weather and for a moment I considered going back in to change my clothes.
• 1:46
  Lisa Hopkins: It was warmer out than I had anticipated and I was definitely overdressed, but instead I removed my jacket and tied around my waist, looking more shabby every minute.
• 1:56
  Lisa Hopkins: But who was going to see me?
• 1:58
  Lisa Hopkins: I wasn't going to miss the sunset.
• 2:01
  Lisa Hopkins: It felt great to breathe the air and get my heart pumping.
• 2:07
  Lisa Hopkins: On the two-mile walk around the reservoir.
• 2:09
  Lisa Hopkins: I thought about how we'd be leaving the neighborhood in a few days and decided to extend my walk down Museum Mile and take a few parting snapshots to remember it by.
• 2:19
  Lisa Hopkins: I sat on the steps that the magnificent met and reveled in its beauty.
• 2:26
  Lisa Hopkins: A musician, like a court jester, mamboed on the terrace as he switched from alto sax to clarinet, entertaining the passersby.
• 2:35
  Lisa Hopkins: It was idyllic.
• 2:37
  Lisa Hopkins: I couldn't have asked for more.
• 2:40
  Lisa Hopkins: In that moment I felt somehow part of the street scene, like an image in a street artist's painting.
• 2:45
  Lisa Hopkins: The met at dusk and yet almost invisible, perfectly anonymous, with no expectations of myself or from anybody else.
• 2:56
  Lisa Hopkins: Just then, two young men passed by me and I overheard one of them saying to the other hey, have you been here before?
• 3:05
  Lisa Hopkins: And I turned and watched them go in.
• 3:11
  Lisa Hopkins: Wait, it's open?
• 3:14
  Lisa Hopkins: Before I could think, I found myself following them up the steps to the entrance.
• 3:20
  Lisa Hopkins: I asked the security guard how late they were open and he said for another 30 minutes.
• 3:27
  Lisa Hopkins: I lined up at the ticket booth.
• 3:28
  Lisa Hopkins: When it was my turn I asked the woman behind the desk if they were still letting people in and what the price was for half an hour, half expecting her to say it was too late.
• 3:38
  Lisa Hopkins: I prefaced with some lame comment about living in the area and this was my last chance to see it.
• 3:44
  Lisa Hopkins: She looked at me and said all you need is a penny.
• 3:48
  Lisa Hopkins: A penny, that's amazing.
• 3:52
  Lisa Hopkins: The minimum suggested donation was a penny.
• 3:55
  Lisa Hopkins: I love New York.
• 4:00
  Lisa Hopkins: Then I remembered running out of the house to catch the sunset.
• 4:03
  Lisa Hopkins: No wallet, just keys and my phone.
• 4:07
  Lisa Hopkins: She waited patiently as I desperately searched my pockets.
• 4:12
  Lisa Hopkins: I had never wanted a penny more.
• 4:16
  Lisa Hopkins: It was like the golden ticket to the magical kingdom.
• 4:19
  Lisa Hopkins: I must have been quite the sight in my baggy sweats and muddy work boots, jacket tied around my waist, almost defeated.
• 4:28
  Lisa Hopkins: I found a dime, triumphant.
• 4:31
  Lisa Hopkins: I presented it to her, my defenses up, holding her to her word, armed and ready to be met with a discriminatory glance or some excuse that it was too late now to enter the museum.
• 4:41
  Lisa Hopkins: I was met instead with a gracious smile as the attendant accepted my dime and passed me through.
• 4:55
  Lisa Hopkins: The Met is monumentally impressive.
• 4:59
  Lisa Hopkins: It's massive.
• 5:03
  Lisa Hopkins: A half hour could barely get you through the Grand Corridor.
• 5:06
  Lisa Hopkins: Determined, I asked the security guard for his recommendation and he suggested I check out the fashion exhibit downstairs.
• 5:15
  Lisa Hopkins: I followed his directions and found the exhibit which, although absolutely lovely and on any other day of interest to a thespian such as myself, it wasn't what I was looking for.
• 5:28
  Lisa Hopkins: It was then that I stumbled upon the American Wing, which I only recently discovered was the Charles Englehart Court.
• 5:36
  Lisa Hopkins: Standing alone, surrounded by the most beautifully stoic and graceful bronzes and sculptures in the glass ceiling courtyard atrium, was one of the most profound now moments I've ever experienced.
• 5:54
  Lisa Hopkins: I've never felt so mortal, these godlike figures looming over non-judgmental and surreal.
• 6:05
  Lisa Hopkins: I proceeded to wander through the living rooms of Tiffany and Frank Lloyd Wright, imagining what it must have felt like to live back then.
• 6:16
  Lisa Hopkins: On my way out I felt even a little more mortal when I stopped to look at a piece of mosaic wall that dated back 5,000 years.
• 6:29
  Lisa Hopkins: I will come back here to explore some more when I have more time, I said to myself.
• 6:35
  Lisa Hopkins: But nothing will ever come close to the experience I had tonight, my night at the museum.
• 6:48
  Lisa Hopkins: I hope you guys enjoyed that.
• 6:49
  Lisa Hopkins: I remember it now vividly.
• 6:51
  Lisa Hopkins: I also remember and it's funny I didn't write about it I remember, when I continued my walk home that night, that out of nowhere and for no particular reason, as it wasn't any holiday there were fireworks over the reservoir.
• 7:08
  Lisa Hopkins: Whether or not that signifies - or signified - something really doesn't matter.
• 7:21
  Lisa Hopkins: But the fact that I'm here today rereading this passage and reliving that beautiful moment really brings me to appreciate where I am today and to know that the guiding principle that I live by this "stop time, live in the moment thing it's been in me all along.
• 7:42
  Lisa Hopkins: Never underestimate what you have in you, my friends.
• 7:47
  Lisa Hopkins: I'm Lisa Hopkins.
• 7:48
  Lisa Hopkins: Stay safe and healthy and remember to live in the moment.