Last day in New York
Ah, my poor neglected blog! The last few weeks have been a rush of seeing friends and finishing my job and packing up my apartment and handling all those last details involved in moving to a different state. As a friend said recently, I've been a little too busy living my life to write anything about it. I've got some photos up on Flickr of the last few weeks.
Today is my last day in New York; tomorrow morning I pack up the truck and head north. I've tried several times over the last few weeks to come up with a post on leaving New York...but it's been difficult. I started making lists, as I like to do; but got stumped. How do you sum up six years here? It's been fun, it's been challenging, it's been difficult, it's been frustrating, it's been full of amazing little moments and art exhibits and adventures, and all that says nothing at all about what it's really like to live here every day. Six years feels like forever and feels like it went by pretty fast. I'm excited to move somewhere quieter and greener and much more spacious. With a porch and a yard and air that doesn't make you choke while running on summer mornings. I'm very excited to have a washer and a dryer in my apartment, in a way that only someone who has spent the last several years lugging their laundry a quarter mile to the laundromat every couple weeks can understand. I'm thrilled to no longer be paying 40% of my income in rent. I will have windows on all four sides of my living space--something I haven't had since I last lived in Boston.
I'm hoping all that will make up for the loss of having all my favorite restaurants within walking distance (or even right downstairs); Prospect Park; coming across random parades; 24-hour subways; the daily contrasts of life here (from the incredible kindnesses I've seen to the incredible cruelties or the multimillionaires walking by the homeless veterans); a 24-hour gourmet bodega across the street; my gym across the street; and all the other little things that we get used to here in NYC. New York has made me jaded and callous, but it's also made me expect diversity and stimulation and openness in a way you don't get somewhere less crowded. One of the things I will miss the most is the amazing diversity of this city--hearing many languages a day, seeing people from everywhere in the world, the huge range of art and music and fashion, and the food! Oh, I will miss the food. Most of all, of course, I will miss my friends; and while I know I will be back to visit, it just won't be quite as easy as making plans for dinner next week or a run tomorrow morning. I guess I should up my cell phone minutes!
I've been ready for a change for awhile now. It's just now that it's here, it's a little harder than it seemed before it was happening tomorrow!