Jeremy decided to use today as a test drive for his new commute into the city, and in an effort to be supportive, I volunteered to go along with him. I figured it would be good to see his new campus so I can picture where he'll be spending about 90% of his time, and I also thought I could find some cool stuff to do along the way.
Unfortunately, the day didn't start very well; I got about two hours of sleep thanks to Jeremy's weird dreams and Matilda's early morning scampering, I had to get up at 5:45 to get ready for our 6:30 departure, and it was pouring when we left. Add to that the gigantic puddle I stepped in at the train station that left me skating around the parking lot as we ran for the platform, and I was in one serious anti-New York funk. We got a little bit lost when we first got downtown at the end of a two hour trip (I know - I could never do it), and I was hungry with wet and windblown hair, wandering around Canal Street being accosted by random street vendors and just generally hating the city. I get like this sometimes.
Jeremy has always had a big thing about living in the city someday, and most of the time I like to participate in that romantic little fantasy and imagine that if we could actually afford it, it would be pretty enjoyable (minus the dilemma of what to do with an 85 pound dog in a Manhattan apartment). This morning as we trudged our way to campus, I scoffed and muttered at anyone who has ever raved about New York as being the greatest place on Earth. It's dirty! It smells really bad randomly for no apparent reason. It's crowded! All I can think when I ride the subway is "swine flu"!
As you may have guessed from the title of this post, however, the day took a turn for the better. First of all, we found a great little bakery where I got a lovely iced tea and a chocolate croissant. That would probably have been enough, but things got even better when we made our way a little further west, met up with one of Jeremy's friends, and I even got the chance to visit a little quilt shop I had researched. Here is where the love part comes in. The thing I do love about New York is that it has a ton of the sort of little stores and restaurants that I am such a sucker for (e.g. tiny little quilt shops on quiet little streets and coffee shops with mismatched tables and jazz playing in the background). If I could spend all of my time in the city in only these types of places, I would never want to leave, but unfortunately, I'm always also running into those crazy "As Seen on TV" stores, smelly little dive restaurants, and traffic-packed avenues.
So I've reached the conclusion that as much as I would like to be a city person, I just don't think I am. Or rather, I'm not a really big city person. Give me Portland, Maine, or Boston (because it's just a little bit smaller and so much cooler than New York - sorry, New Yorkers) and I'm a much happier camper. But I'm also more than okay, and often much happier, with woods and fields and no one around for miles.
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