still in love after 28 years

I grew up in and around Boston, but it was a city that never really got under my skin.  I have a strong affinity for Boston; it is my second home.  But it is not a place I was comfortable settling into. 

I lived in Chicago for six years.  It’s a beautiful American city, but it’s self-contained.  There is nothing much to do once you leave the city limits.  My family was all back East when I lived there, and I missed them.  I also missed being near an ocean.  As spectacular as Lake Michigan is, it doesn’t quite measure up to the Atlantic Ocean.

I even lived in Portland Oregon for six months when I worked for Gillette.  It’s a nice city, but it rains too much.  And it’s too far from my roots.

I moved to New York in January of 1985, and I immediately knew this was home.  It’s a city that still enthralls me; I never tire of it.  I am never bored here.  It changes all the time.  You can be whomever you want; no one cares.  But yet it is a caring city. 

And for a big city, I find it strikingly friendly, and familiar. 

Today, for example.  I meet Shari while she’s having her haircut.  On my way home, I bump into Diane.  Alexander and her daughter were classmates in elementary school; her daughter is now at Penn. I haven’t seen mother or daughter in years, as we were never really close. But surprisingly, we find a lot to catch up on.

Next I go to the Post Office, and there I bump into a woman I haven’t seen in a decade.  Her child also was in the same elementary school as Alexander, and is now at U Chicago.  I still picture him as a curly-haired little boy.  His mother looks unchanged, maybe even better.  She says the same of me (the unchanged part).

And then later, I pass a woman on the street who was in my Weight Watchers group, where I haven’t been since June 13, exactly a year ago. I wonder if she notices the six pounds I’ve added in the intervening months?

I come home thinking how grateful I am to live in this great city — even when I'm doing nothing more than running neighborhood errands.  I truly can't imagine living anywhere else.