Even if you've never been to New York City, you feel like you know her before you even arrive. You see the skyline from the plane window, you see the Statue of Liberty on the cab ride, you cross the Brooklyn Bridge, and these are all things you've done before vicariously through friends or movies or songs, except this time, it's really you, and it's really the city, and you're finally meeting. It's strange the way New York is such a part of the American identity that coming here feels both like being here for the first time and just returning.
We're staying at some very good friends' very New York apartment, occupying the whole of their living room floor with our backpacks and an air mattress. In the street on our way here I noticed a street sign that made me giggle: "NO HONKING EXCEPT IN THE CASE OF DANGER". In my head I imagined some angry New York driver trying to get by some jerk in the narrow street and not being able to do the one thing that seems to make perfect sense in NY traffic--screaming and honking. I think it's funny that there would be a city ordinance against just that behavior!
Being here I remember how much I love cities. Just walking out your door and to find a dozen interesting stores, or some unique dining experience, or some crazy conversation between strangers that you have to hide a smile about as you're walking away. It's cramped, it's noisy, it's energetic, it's exhausting, but it's interesting and amazing, and it doesn't stop being interesting and amazing no matter where you are. Jason and I look at each other and say, "we could do New York City for a year. Yeah, a year! Wouldn't that be perfect?"
"Cuz everyone's my friend in New York City
And everything is beautiful when you're young and pretty
The streets are paved with diamonds, and there's just so much to see
But the best thing about New York City is...you and me."
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