named it twice

I was in New York, New York on Friday and while it was invigorating to be back in that city, if only for 24 hours, it was rainy. I think I have to say that the rain sort of reminds me that I'm alive.

When you live in perpetual sunshine and in a city that seems to live off of manufactured happiness, I think it's easy to forget that real people with real diversity are living real lives. Trudging through the crowded subways on a rainy Friday in September brings that all crashing to the forefront for me. And I'm thankful for the reality check.

I'm also thankful for the friends I got to spend valuable time with. Jon and I got to flit around a very soggy Central Park and talk about dreams, the future, the pain of today, and grab a slice of Brooklyn pizza-pie then head to his artist haven of an apartment. It was refreshing and calming to be with a friend who I can be so immersed in the right now as to not worry about what's going on around us but to enjoy that very minute. Probably the best part of NYC for me was the freedom. I was free from clock-watching, email-checking, status-updating. Mostly because a majority of that time was spent underground and without a signal but also due to the fact that I was so caught up in the watching of other people living their lives. It's hard to explain the colors of rain in NYC. The drabness of the gray on the buildings contrasting with the colors of rainboots and the liveliness of people going about their days as though I had never arrived was so vivid to me. I really enjoyed peeking into the life of the city--if only for the day.

I later got to see Aisha who just made me roarously laugh all night. Whether it was some perfectly inappropriate joke or making up absurd accents while we jumped from puddle to puddle, it was as though absolutely no time had passed and was just another mile-marker that our friendship has and will continue to stand the test of time. We wandered around lower Manhattan in search of the perfect Mac-n-cheese dinner, again for a bookstore, again for dessert, and finally for invaluable TylenolPm. It was all quite pedestrian but when thought of in the context of this time with her, it was priceless. She is priceless. I don't have to pretend and there is no point in hiding who I am from her or vise versa. Our friendship began with a depth that continues even today. Seven years of knowing each other. Seven years of changing and ebbing, flowing. Seven years of returning at exactly the same point as when we left it. Ahh, I treasure great friendships.

Maybe it was the parts of the city I saw in detail this trip or maybe it was the parts of the city I avoided that made this trip give NYC a true grit and reality. It didn't feel like the touristy binge of lights and consumerism but more the daily grind and humanity that every other time I've visited I felt. Also to note was the fact that I was there on 9/11. Here I was, eight years later but this day was unique. Sombering yet without the halting of life in its wake. i walked by a Fire Station on the Upper East Side and there was a plaque with the fallen firefighters with a bucket full of flowers underneath. There were notes and memos posted around it and it was hard to describe how I felt. I, along with the rest of the country who was alive in 2001, remembers exactly where they were and how their lives immediately felt like slow motion in those moments. But it's all a mishmash of feelings to me now. How do I feel--other than deep respect and honor for those fallen--about that day? No one seemed to talk about it or mention what it was other than on the news that was on for a bit when I flew into JFK that morning. Just another way New York brought a different tone than whenever else I've visited her.

So New York, I appreciate you. If not for your glamour, but for the friends you contain within you.