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July 23, 2007
Green, Green Grass of Home
When stress overcomes me (which occurs all too often and I need to learn to deal with it better), I tend to see the city as a stereotype of concrete, asphalt, trash cans and steel. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as New York is composed of such details to an extent, but when combined with anxiety and lack of sleep and high humidity, the whole thing just stinks. Part of me becomes inconsolable; I even begin to miss my childhood home, despite its sprawl and expressways, traffic and general suburban bleck.
The cure for this wallowing is so simple, yet each time I rediscover it I am surprised. The key is to slow down, to walk slowly, to look at little things. To kick over a piece of paper on the sidewalk that looks like trash, just to read what it says. To peer down alleyways and little cracks in fences. The solution is to reconnect with the things you know you love- and they are there, because if they weren't, you would have stopped living here long ago.
Sunday was most definitely a day of green.
Colors were so incredibly brilliant- they popped out at wildflowers in vacant lots, as flames painted upon rusted sheds and winding vines twirling about the stagnant water and cracked walls of the Gowanus. There was a color in the shouts of children cannonballing into public pools, in the smells of sidewalk barbecues and the tastes of bar munchies and cold, refreshing hoegaardens after a long, satisfying walk.
That and, last but not least, bullet hole decals.
But regardless, finally...two nights of sleep, cooler weather and a chance to slow down. My brain and body and emotions have finally reunited. It feels so, so good.
Posted by callalillie at July 23, 2007 7:16 AM | City Life
, Introspect
Odd that you see you're childhood home as sprawling highways and industrialized suburbia: I feel your home was rooted in the deepest of Mt. S's forrest-like environments. I always felt a visit to your house was like a visit to the "countryside."
Posted by: jason at July 23, 2007 4:57 PM
Not that this particularly has anything to do with this post per se, but do you ever get recognized on the streets of NY from your blog?
Posted by: Janine at July 24, 2007 2:27 PM
jay- actually, i felt like that about old post road, too. i guess now that it's not an accessible home anymore, my memories and feelings about mt. sinai have become a little muddled.
janine- only once. i felt really bad because the person said hello and caught me completely off guard and i didn't know what to say. i've recognized and said hello to other bloggers on the street, though, when i feel outgoing enough.
Posted by: corie at July 24, 2007 2:33 PM
Ah, the reason I ask is because I saw a few people the other day that I thought to myself "Where do I know that person from?" and couldn't quite figure it out. Later I realized, one was the super-nice waitress from Lobo on Court Street; and I believe the other was you - at the time I was like,"Do I know her? Did I go to high school with her or something? She looks so familiar."
Posted by: Janine at July 24, 2007 3:22 PM
Could have been me. Next time say hi :)
Posted by: corie at July 25, 2007 9:04 AM
