Happiness is Living in New York City

Friends, good morning from New York City, my new third home.  Let me introduce you to some of my favorite things about my new home city as I, too, get settled in.

First, I need to tell you that New York intimidated me for years.  I knew I was supposed to like it, but I never quite liked it. I never felt like I found my “place” here---it was always too big, too expensive, too crazy cool.  Somehow, after all of these travels and life experiences I have had, somehow, New York feels like the only place I can live for the rest of my life.  I love it here.

 

I love the theatres.

 

 

I love yet am annoyed by the tourists and the bright lights of Times Square, which means I am becoming a New Yorker, I guess.

 

I love the shopping.  The displays are like art here, everywhere you look.  Here is Cartier, all decked out for Christmas.  See if you can find the 3 “kitties” climbing the building.

 

My favorite thing about New York, though, is Central Park.  I love the leaves, the trees, the benches everywhere.  Here are some picture of when my Friend Tom visited from Minneapolis and when my Friends Dag & Tove were here from Oslo, Norway.

 

 

I love the tribute to John Lennon—its simplicity, its bringing us all back to a place of just….being human, even if the buskers nearby do a terrible job remembering his lyrics as they butcher Beatles’ songs in the hope of making a buck.  This is one of my favorite places in the world.

 

I love the restaurants here:  the variety, the sheer number of places to compare and contrast, the quality and the true flavor palettes from so many people who moved here from so many places.  I love the presentation of even the simplest things:  crudité.  Risotto with the white truffles I personally picked out from the purveyor on my restaurant orientation day.

 

 

I love it here.  I love the mom and pop shops, I love the noise, I love how the city has something incredibly interesting going on 24 hours a day.  I love that New York has the very best of everything, from performances at Lincoln Center and the Met to the top restaurants in the world.  I love hearing so many languages as I walk down the streets---and I walk and walk and walk and walk here, every day---that, too, is one of my favorite things about New York.  I walk different streets each day, in order to get to know each neighborhood better and better and better, in order to find all of my favorite little spots. 

 

You can have and you can be anything here in New York.  I feel at home here, like I belong here, and so my adventure has begun. 

 

Friends, today’s happiness comes from never thinking you are too far down one path to start another.  Today’s happiness includes never thinking you are too old or too set in your usual habits to try someplace and something new.  We are given one life to do anything we want to do, anywhere in the world, as long as we choose it and do it.  Today, as I remember John, who became the greatest father figure I could have asked for and whom we lost one year ago today, I know he would be proud of me going out and LIVING life, out loud and fearless.  I do this for me, and I do this for him, and for those conversations we had about making sure that every moment counts.  When I get to the place where I am done with this life here, I want one thing to be clear:  I did not waste one single moment, and I did everything I wanted to do. 

 

Go be your very happiest, Friends, and go do everything you can Imagine.

With lots of love from New York City, soon to be Budapest,

Your Good Friend Sarah