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October 3, 2006
Forward and Back
Alexis and I spent a good portion of Saturday walking up Manhattan’s waterfront. We had originally planned to go to the MOMA, however a series of unfortunate events (B61 too crowded with cruise terminal passengers, accidentally wandering onto a crime scene, a Hoyted and horribly slow F train) resulted in us terminating our mass transit ride at Delancy Street. Instead of the museum, we headed over to the East River Park and decided to walk until we got tired.
My first apartment in Manhattan was on Waverly Place in 1997. In the year that I lived there, I only deviated from the 14th Street perimeter once for fun and that was to go to Central Park. Otherwise, I traveled to 56th Street and back for work and spent the rest of my time limited to the Washington Square area. When I returned to New York in 1999, I took an apartment on the Upper East Side for a myriad of reasons, professional and familial, and while I hated the area, I decided that I had to make the best of it. I spent my weekends walking the length of each avenue. I also began to run again and made the East River waterfront my route.
Moving to Brooklyn in 2001 was something that I had to do for both my pocketbook and my sanity. Mostly, I was fleeing from an unhealthy atmosphere that I had created for myself. The Upper East Side held such memories of loneliness and self-destruction that I rarely set foot there again unless I had a sound reason. It hurt too much to remember who I was at that time and my sole response was simply to eliminate the geography from my life’s routine.
One of the most beautiful things about moving forward is the newfound ability to look back. On our walk from Delancy to 78th Street, I was able to show Alexis all of the details that I had once noticed, whether it was through a long walk or an extended run, and recapture much of the wonder and excitement that I had found in the fringe of buildings and frenetic traffic abutting the eastern waterfront. So much came back to me on Saturday and, for the first time in five years, it all felt good.
Posted by callalillie at October 3, 2006 6:35 AM | City Life
, Introspect
Love this (and the photo). Long walks past old homes and old haunts in NYC call up so many memories.
Posted by: lesterhead at October 3, 2006 10:36 AM
Not to be snarky, but does Alexis have a weekend/afterwork uniform consisting of black tee and jeans? That's all I've ever seen him wear in any of your pictures.
Posted by: Carol at October 3, 2006 1:03 PM
Actually, that is his weekend and workday uniform. He likes to keep things simple. Lucky.
Posted by: corie at October 3, 2006 1:13 PM
Ha! That's my husband's weekend uniform too (he changes up for tan shorts on hot days). Poor guy, he has to think a little on the weekdays . . .
Posted by: Beth at October 3, 2006 3:33 PM
I think I met you for the first time ever in your apartment on Waverly... forget the details, but I was with Sean and we stopped by on our way somewhere else... weird.
Posted by: Cynthia at October 12, 2006 4:02 PM
