Memorable New York City moments....
- A little girl, maybe 3 years old at most, in sparkling gold tights and very dramatic pig-tails, sits next to me on the subway just like a grown-up, with no help from her care-taker, and happens to sit on the edge of my coat. She doesn't notice, of course, but I feel a significant pull on my right side, and for the rest of the ride try not move too much so as not to disturb this little person, who sits quietly observing others in the subway, more like a grown-up than I've ever known myself to be. I am relieved when her stop comes before mine, so that I won't have to disturb her when I have to get up, and she gets off my coat and walks out with the same self-importance with which she had sat down on my coat earlier. I smile.
- My first day at Yoga to The People. Donation-based yoga (essentially, free yoga). Forty people in an unpretentious room, sweating, chanting, breathing, creating, moving, being moved, opening themselves up, all together, and all alone, with different missions but the same movements. I feel a sense of belonging and independence all at once, with such intensity I start to laugh, loudly. And no one, not one single person, judges me or asks me to be quiet. Most of the people around me, in fact, without knowing why, join me in my laughter.
- A spring day, always a relief after winter, and Washington Square Park is crowded as can be. I sit on the grass, get out my lunch, and eat it while soaking in the happiness and relief that surrounds me. Then a bunch of people get together, and start singing songs and playing instruments. They are fantastic, and crowds gather. A very old man is dancing along. Everyone is happy.
- It is summer in Bryant Park and on Monday nights they screen old films for free. I get there early, before the grass opens, and stand around, with hundreds of other people, all of us holding our blankets out, waiting for the grass to open. No one steps on the grass until the guard lets us. And as soon as he announces, "The Grass is Open", we all rush out, screaming, running as fast as we can to get the best possible square foot of grass that lets us see the screen. I sit close to the screen, I spread out my blanket. I pull out my pic-nic, my book, and take off my shoes. It's only 5pm. The movie doesn't start till 9.
- I perform a Greek Comedy throughout the parks of New York one summer, for free. We are wearing togas and many layers of sunscreen. It's hotter than anything I have ever known. We have been rehearsing this play for several weeks, we have songs and dances and jokes and many cute moments. There are people gathered in the grass waiting for us to perform it. They're sitting in the shade. We're under the sun. We do it, and the crowd loves us, even though our only thoughts throughout the whole performance are "Please, God, don't let me pass out". It was that hot.
- My friend Ashley and I go out drinking one night. We are looking for boys. We decide we're gonna pretend we're southern, because new york men love out-of-towners (they have commitment issues, see). We tell people we're from Tennessee. I think I'm even wearing my gold cowboy boots. People are intrigued. But we don't meet anyone. We laugh really hard though, because everything is funnier when you say it with a bad southern accent. We come home and my other friend, Kerri, who is staying with me during that time, is sleeping. We try to be quiet but we're still talking in a southern accent so everything is funny. The next day Kerri says she dreamt we were speaking in southern accents.
- I have friends over for election night, 2008. We are not very talkative. We are nervous. We eat cheese and crackers and drink beer. And then. Just like that. Barack Obama is elected president. No place on earth, I think, is happier than New York. The city literally explodes in screams. From the 14th floor of my building, we can hear people screaming all over New York. Most of us are crying. We walk to Union Square, and the city is a party. There are people on lamp posts. Everyone is so happy, so genuinely and purely happy, there's no choice but to join in the vibrations of the night. We know we are living through a unique moment in history, and we will be the ones to tell about it.
- I decide to go for a jog. A very unusual event. But it's a nice day, and I am inspired. So I go all the way down to the river and start my jog. It feels good. Then, with no real warning and quite suddenly, it starts to rain. Then it starts to pour. There is absolutely nowhere for me to seek shelter. So I keep jogging. And then I start running. I am running through the rain and it's thrilling. I run all they way back to my apartment, and when I get to my building, soaked and confusing my doormen ( I apologize a hundred times for dripping everywhere, but they're laughing at me), I feel like my soul has been cleansed. It's amazing.
There are hundreds more. These are just a few. In essence, I love New York. And what I love most is when it surprises me with moments of connectedness and truth.
