I Happen To Like New York

I've always known that Manhattan is all of my favorite things in the world, smushed together and dumped on an island between the Hudson and the East River. But it wasn't until I moved here that I realized the degree to which this place has my very favorite things pegged- not just the big obvious things like Broadway Shows, a huge dance scene, and- yeah- Krispy Kreme Donuts- but the little things. Tiny things. Minutiae. New York- I LOVE YOU!

For starters, there's Central Park. Now, I know that this one seems pretty big and obvious, but I have been able to approach the park in a way that I never have before- like a runner. My sister, cousin, and I will be running THIS RACE in February- which, yes, we picked almost entirely because of it's location and our ability to plan a vacation around it, but even so, we have to train in order to finish the damn thing and still be able to have said vacation without hiring people to push us around in wheelchairs. Long(er) story short- I have been running! I'm nowhere near 13.1 miles yet, but I found out last weekend that I CAN run 5 and ½!! For me, that is huge. There are trails everywhere- through the woods, around bodies of water, and there's even a road that is closed to vehicles for the majority of the day so that people can walk, run, bike, or rollerblade across the park. I've been trying to make a new route for myself every day and take trails or turns that I haven't before, and I always end up in a wild new place- sometimes I even find myself thinking, 'Well, CRAP, this is really really far away from 97th street...'. It's awesome to have so much to look at while running- the museums, the playgrounds, statues and sculptures, the puppeteers on Sunday mornings, the entrance to the zoo...which actually brings me to my next point...

People watching in New York is the best I have seen anywhere. This is due, in part, to the sheer volume of people per capita- there are people everywhere- talking on cell phones, crossing the street, chatting with their friends, shopping, laughing, crying, eating- all the time. I'm a huge fan of any cell-phone conversation that I am within earshot of, mostly because you WOULD NOT believe the types of things that people will talk about on cell phones- from what they did or did not do in Stephanie's bed last night to the fight they are having with their father to- jeesh- all kids of other stuff, it never fails to keep me interested for the duration of my walk near them. I also love watching children in the city- the pudgy toddlers who are trying to keep up with the foot traffic on Lexington Avenue sidewalks, children riding their scooters and shouting to their nannies about how close they are to their school, and, my personal favorite, children having tantrums. In the number one position to date is a little girl that Ben and I observed recently as we walked home from one of the Upper East Side Goodwill locations (I know what you're thinking, and it is actually SHOCKING how disappointing their stuff is- every single time we go!). This little girl was crying and screaming that her mother was wrong as they walked down the sidewalk, but the best part was, she was screaming and arguing IN FRENCH. “La maison n'est pas la!” (“the house is not there!”) she kept insisting, and while I'm sure it would have been stressful if it were my child, I couldn't help but chuckle as we passed them. I'm not sure if they were on their way to the alleged house that would not be there, or maybe if it was brought up from a previous disagreement in her obviously tired state. But it was funny and endearing. Poor little thing. I hope she got a nap soon. She really needed it.