It was raining when the movers came, wrapped up Amanda’s furniture and loaded it and the packed boxes into the truck.
On the bus I thought about what I’d like to do in New York. I really should go check out the 9/11 memorial museum. Maybe I should go on Monday when Amanda goes back to work. But Monday was September 11th. I realized that I first moved to New York exactly 16 years before– the Wednesday before 9/11.
I love New York City. When I was little my dad went to New York to sing in Carnegie Hall. He didn’t take me, but when he came back I soaked in all of his stories. I asked him, Why would anyone want to live in Sacramento, or anywhere else for that matter, when they could live in New York? He said family and being around the people you love, but I still didn’t understand why anyone would want to live somewhere besides New York City.
When I was 16 my best friend’s theatre department was planning a trip to New York and somehow I managed to tag along. I saved up all the money I could to pay for the week at the Marriott Marquis. That whole week I felt like I was floating 10 feet off the ground. I was planning to go to school in Los Angeles, you know, where one obviously goes to become a movie star, but I knew deep in my soul that I would end up in New York. And blessed be, that’s where I ended up going to school.
New York has always felt more like home than anywhere else I’ve been. I can’t tell you how grateful I am to have the opportunity to tag along with Amanda’s move to New York and pretend it’s mine too.
I bounced off the Bolt bus and skipped through the rain to catch the A uptown. I pulled out my Metrocard that I saved from the last time I was here almost a year ago. There was still $10 of credit on there! I climbed into Amanda’s new apartment and by the end of the night, we were exhausted. I’d stood around while the movers packed up for 3 hours that morning, then sat on a bus for 2 hours, then sat on a subway, then watched the movers lug things up to the 6th floor (though yes, there is an elevator), and I was exhausted!
Amanda ordered pizza and we started unpacking as we waited for it to arrive. We weren’t sure if the pizza was actually as good as it tasted or if it just seemed that way because we were so hungry, but man, it was good New York pizza.
We spent the next day dismantling boxes, moving furniture and figuring out where everything belonged. That night I left the apartment to find some wine spritzers and back out on the street, I knew I was home again. The sirens, the honking cars, the constant flow of people of all colors at all times of day. Up in Washington Heights I was as happy as I was in Chelsea and Astoria.
By Saturday, Amanda was hosting brunch for Anne and Brian, our friends who we last saw in Baltimore when we went there to see the Shakespeare inspired water ballet.
That afternoon we went to hang out in Union Square– my subway stop to go to work or yoga most of the time I lived in New York. The farmers market was crazy busy so we mostly just took an inventory of what was available– Amanda’s new job was nearby. After circling around, we found an oasis in the crowd– The Pavilion– a little bar they put up in the middle of the park.
Here we are with the bar in the background
And here we are with Union Square behind us
The girls down the bar were taking flaming green shots and looked really young– there’s nothing like underaged drinking in New York. The bartenders were adorable with their foreign accents. Ours had to look up the recipe to make Amanda’s old fashioned, but it turned out very nice.
After a quick sweep through DSW, we went to Zio on 19th Street. When I worked on 19th street there was a great Italian place across the street where I did my underaged drinking at their ridiculously cheap happy hours. That place wasn’t there anymore, but this place turned out to be pretty tasty.
We started with a fresh artichoke salad
Then Amanda had the carbonara while I had the Eggplant special.
And we finished up with Tiramisu
It was almost as good as the Tiramisu my friends made for me in Sardegna.
With full bellies, we went to see a show…