Back in the New York Groove

We live in New York again!  And I found the bagels!  More on that later.

I've actually been back in New York City for a little over a month now.  And yes, it's taken me this long to get back on the blog.  It's taken some processing.  Anyone who knows me knows I'm not too good at transitions.

In that month, I've decided that one of New York City's most basic truths is that it's a city of contradictions.  A Gemini like me.

When I got here I told Jake that I felt as though New York was constantly sending me two different messages: "Welcome to the greatest city in the world!  Oh, and fuck you."

Then I was watching Manhattan Love Story on DVR (more on that later, too) and the two central characters were trying to hail cabs while we were treated to their internal monologues - "Thanks, New York!" and "Thanks, New York."  It's a little hard to express their intonations with only punctuation and italics at my disposal, but I think you get the idea.

The truth, which I've kept secret thus far, is that sometimes New York disgusts me.  I wasn't supposed to feel that way.  It was supposed to be a magical homecoming to a city I loved deeply and unconditionally - no matter how much trash there is on the sidewalk.  But if there's another basic truth about New York City, it's that it's constantly changing.  Which means constant construction noise.  The point being, that there was never a chance for this to be a homecoming, because so much has changed.  In the city and in me.

Today I let myself do something that New Yorkers are all too often shamed out of doing - be unabashedly awed by my city.  Like, take out your smartphone and take pictures of the Empire State Building while other people are trying to cross the street unabashedly awed.

Both these feelings live together, and there's room for that here in New York - the greatest city on earth.  It's always struck me how many different worlds can be tucked onto one small island between Jersey and Connecticut.  My world is here now; this is my home.

And for those of you who didn't believe me, blurry photos of three New York City icons, all of which I get to take in every day on my walk to work (yes, I can WALK to work!)  They do literally no justice to the majesty and beauty of these buildings on a blue skied, fall morning, with the sun rising slowly but deliberately behind them.