NY is a funny place, and it has played an important part in my life, both as a kid and as an adult (I lived in Manhattan for 4 years during elementary school, and then for 7 more years after college). Now's not the time to try to explain exactly what that part has meant to me, but suffice it to say, the city is irreplaceable in my book. It has always been there for me when I've needed it, and while it has made life harder in some ways, I will forever remain in its debt.
So anyway. Rather than ramble on, I wanted to write a list of the top 50 or 100 things I will miss about NY now that I live in my new quirky semi-midwestern semi-southern home of the Nati! Without further ado....
50. Walking everywhere.
49. Renting. Sure, it's nice to own your own place. But there's also something nice about recognizing that you don't actually have to, ever. Not to mention the niceness of not having to ever worry about anything that breaks!
48. The food. We were regulars of a few places (Emack & Bolios, Shake Shack), but I also really liked trying out random new places. The swedish restaurant we tried during restaurant week, the macaroon place downtown I discovered with my family during graduation, the really good sushi place in midtown, the myriad surprisingly expensive/dumpy/delicious restaurants surrounding Elmhurst Hospital in Queens. I don't even remember the names of these places, but I liked having so many choices.
And now, since I am growing lazier by the minute....an abreviated version of #1-47 sans pictures or explanation....
47. Biking in Central Park, across the brooklyn bridge, etc.
46. Attempting to grow a garden on our balcony (and failing, thanks to the brutality of >90hour surgical work weeks)
45. Sunset schooners around the tip of the island
44. Sledding in the streets
43. Living in a 17 story "house" and virtually NEVER locking our door in four years of medical school.
42. Curbside recycling (aka, finding furniture on the street, and taking it home). **Word to the wise: make sure the furniture is actually being thrown away. It is embarrassing to be stopped by the owner of a table one has decided to walk off with down the street...
41. The Playgrounds (sorry, Wyoming....NYC has you beat a bit on this front).
40. The crazy people who sit near you in the restaurant while you are trying to keep track of two hyperactive kids, and proceed to tell you their entire life story as though you were nothing but the best of friends.
39. The nooks. You know--the hidden peaceful oases you happen upon in your travels in the unlikeliest of places.
38. Play by Play!! ($4 tickets to horrible comedy and awe-inspiring broadway alike, baby!)
37. The Natural History Museum, Met, MOMA, Jewish Museum, Children's Museum of the Arts, New York Hall of Science, Guggenheim, El Museo del Barrio, Children's Museum of Manhattan, etc, etc, etc...
36. Parades. From Macy's immaculate Thanksgiving Day Parade on the upper west side to the deafening Carribbean Parade in Prospect Park.
35. The subway! Superb for people-watching and the occasional talented musician.
34. The brutal honesty.
33. the Little Orchestra Society's Lollipops Concerts for little kids...and other like-minded high-brow arts for low-brow little kids.
32. The beautiful people. There are a lot of them on the upper east side, and I confess to admiring.
31. The babified dogs.
30. The 92nd street Y and its discounts for "Under 35-year old" 'kids'. :)
29. The creative use of space.
28. Victoria Gardens. Best little kid amusement park ever.
27. Fountains
26. Carl Schurz
25. The incredibly rich, endless, inspirational history.
24. The partial solitude of 3 am.
23. East Harlem community gardens and murals.
22. The triborough bridge (especially at sunrise, as viewed from our apartment or, at times, the hospital walkways).
21. The endless neighborhoods.
20. The sky.
19. The grit (public toilets, subway rats, apartment mice and the occasional cockroach the size of an index finger).
18. Free concerts in the park during summer
17. The tremendous diversity.
16. The smell of ambition
15. Weekend get-aways to upstate NY
14. The millions of books--for all ages--that take place in NY
13. Street fairs and carnivals
12. Flying kites in small spaces
11. Mount Sinai School of Medicine. :)
10. Riverside Park
9. Columbia's Undergrad campus and Morningside Heights in general
8. Close friends. :-(
7. Fresh Direct
6. Walking home from Times Square on a beautiful night
5. Walking anywhere through Central Park
4. Sleeping to the sounds of the city at night
3. Meeting people from all over the world
2. Feeling that anything is possible
1. Building a family from scratch in a lovely, crazy, hectic, kind, brutal, wonderful place that has shaped us in ways both good and bad. Living in NY, I have always felt a strong sense of impermanence, being in motion, in flux. Cincinnati (and especially the small town outside of Cincinnati that we've moved to) has so far inspired the opposite emotion. It is nice to feel grounded now, and oddly permanent after 2 weeks in a way that I did not feel after 11 lifetime years spent in Manhattan. But I will miss NY dearly, and love it forever. Goodbye, city.....
