Exit Stage Left

New York City is unlike any other place I've ever been or probably ever will be. It's a world unto itself. The people in New York tend to think that the world revolves around the 31.2 square miles of the island of Manhattan which couldn't be further from the truth. Manhattanites are just secluded from the rest of the world; they are oblivious to the rest of the country. Do they even realize that the rest of the U.S. population doesn't have to pay $4 for a four-pack of toilet paper, or $15 for the fixin's for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?

Despite the high rent, long commutes, non-existent grocery stores, unavoidable walking and stair climbing and more tourists than any single group of people should have to deal with New York is, to me, absolutely magical. A place that transfixed my imagination for 15 years before I ever set foot on its shores. On my first visit to the city I actually cried walking up out of the subway into the madness of Times Square. Incidentally, this is a part of the City I'd now avoid like the plague if it weren't for the dozens of theatres that line the sidewalks.

I wanted to live in New York even before I'd ever visited, but once I'd visited my dream became on obsession. I frequently make decisions that could affect me in the long-run based on my future residence in the big city....though, obviously, I've yet to make that leap. Every time I visit I have this moment in the first 24 hours where I think to myself, "What the hell are you thinking?! Do you really think you could live here? Really?!" And then just one short cab ride up Broadway past Lincoln Center, past Tavern on the Green and through Central Park at midnight instantly brings me back to the "reality" of dreaming of my future life as a New Yorker.