Cheers

Having quickly learned that New York City is insanely crowded, I usually complain about it. Granted, I knew it would be a shock to my personal bubble before I moved here, but I didn’t realize that it would be a constant omg-can-you-please-stop-touching-me-and-stepping-on-my-toe-and-blasting-your-headphones-and-making-mouth-sounds-and-are-you-seriously-eating-a-raw-onion? kind of crowded. So, on the weekends, Zack and I like to hole up in Brooklyn to avoid the craziness that is the island of Manhattan. This weekend was no exception: low-key, did some cooking, local shopping, sewing and enjoyed some time with friends from out of country, checked out a new restaurant, ya know, the usual. This morning I even woke up in time (shout out daylight savings time!) to watch CBS Sunday Morning.

This morning, I woke up to people cheering, the sound of people encouraging other people, most of them they don’t even know. I ventured outside in the cold to go pick up a few things, and I stopped to watch the marathon which happens to route half a block from our apartment. I’ve seen it before, two years ago, and was excited to see it then, but it was a much different feeling this time. This time last year we were staying in Brooklyn because we had no choice after Hurricane Sandy, and the marathon was cancelled altogether. I saw all the same people I see on a daily basis: mothers, bodega owners, the extremely cheerful people that hand out the AM New York, the grumpy people that ask if you would like a free medical massage, neighbors, friends, but today, it was different. Today, it didn’t feel crowded, though there were more people on our block than I see in one full week of commuting to and from Manhattan. It was inspiring. Everyone was cheering on the sidelines. Runners were singing and smiling. Thousands of people were zooming by me. It’s moments like this that I love New York City. There’s something special about seeing so many people doing something so difficult to reach a common goal, for whatever the reason. Sometimes, in the midst of the day-to-day annoyances of living in such a crowded place, I forget that these millions of people are people. We’re all peeved that the train is late, and we’re all just trying to get to wherever we’re going. We all choose to live here, and it’s days like today that I remember why we do.

 

 

‘Til next time!