Now that I’ve had my grand unveiling of the website, I guess it’s time to start posting! Since Andrea and I haven’t made the big move yet (or even the first of the big moves, which will take us up to Binghamton before heading down to Florida), I figure that I’ll share some thoughts about my current locale.
I’ve been living in New York for over eight years now, and as anyone who has known me during that time can tell you, I don’t love New York City. There is constant noise that you can’t escape from. You can’t own a car (I’ve always found it incredibly ironic that 99% of Americans living outside of New York City and making a small fraction of what I make can afford a car (often two), and I can’t afford one). Even simple things like running to the store are difficult because you don’t have a car and you have to schlep bags all over the place (and either pay for taxis or fight the crowds on mass transit). And don’t get me started on the morning commute — when was the last time you were driving to work and had to sit next to a smelly homeless guy in your car? I had to share my commute with a smelly disgusting guy just this morning. Ahhh, New York — what’s not to love?
But despite the negatives, I have to acknowledge that there are a number of positives to living here as well. If you’re single, especially, it’s a great place to be, since there are so many other single people. There are great bars and clubs to go out to. There is world-class culture here, from museums to Broadway shows to the live sporting events. The amazing restaurants and a great music scene also help to make New York an enjoyable city to live in. Central Park is a fantastic escape from the crowds and noise, and you can partake in countless activities from skating in a roller-disco to relaxing in the sun and people watching (or if you’re skilled like me, you can combine the two and relax and watch the people skating in the roller-disco). And of course, the fact that I have so many close friends who live here doesn’t hurt, either.
But yesterday as I headed home from work, I was reminded of one of the things I most enjoy about New York: the “small world” experience. I was riding the subway home from work, and I happened to run into two very good friends of mine (Carrie and Sally) who were boarding the subway car that I was riding in. I was only riding for one more stop after they boarded, so it was a very brief encounter. But I really enjoyed seeing them, brief though it was, because such an encounter is amazingly unlikely in a city this big. And that’s what makes such encounters so special.
Consider that there are millions of people in Manhattan during the normal rush-hour commute on a weekday. At most I would guess I know about 200 of those people. So the odds are slim right off the bat that I’d run into someone I know. Add to that the odds of a friend being on the same train (many trains run along each subway line at any given time) and in the same car (10 cars per subway train), and the odds against seeing a familiar face are even greater. And in the case of yesterday’s encounter, a break from my usual routine was necessary to facilitate the chance meeting — I usually ride at the front of the train, as the exit I use at my stop is towards the front of the platform, but yesterday I had an errand to run that required me to get off at the back of the platform, resulting in me riding in a car towards the back. On any other day, even if the timing was right and my friends and I were on the same train, we’d have been riding on different ends of the train and would not have seen each other. But yesterday, things worked out and I got to say a quick hello.
When you think about it, in a city as big as New York, encounters like this shouldn’t happen. Ever. But as anyone who has lived here will tell you, they do happen, and they happen more frequently than you’d expect. We run into old acquaintances, we reconnect with lost friends, we have coincidental meetings that are the result of unlikely circumstances.
Some of my favorite moments in this city have been these coincidental encounters, and I realized yesterday that these are among the things I will miss the most when Andrea and I leave New York. But as I pondered it, I realized that these chance encounters are not exclusive to New York, and that leaving the city only opens the doors to the possibility of chance encounters with an entirely different group of friends and acquintances (namely, those who don’t live in New York City). I’m excited to see who I run across in Florida, be it an old college roommate, and old high school friend, or even friends of my parents that migrate south for the winters to avoid the snow. I’m excited for the first time an old friend or acquaintance shows up in one of the dive groups I am leading or training (I’m also excited just to be able to lead a dive group or train a new diver, but that’s another story…). And I’m excited to get out into the world and make new friends, so that in 10 years I can run into them randomly and be amazed at what a coincidence it is.
When you stop and think about it, the world is a pretty huge place. While I’m anxious to leave New York, I’ll always miss the little chance encounters, which happen way more frequently than they ever should in a city like New York, that make the world seem a little smaller.
And that’s my first blog!