This posting originally was an email response- but this day was so NY and so amazing i thought I'd share it with all of you-I was blessed with a tremendously restful Sunday, and Monday. This time of rest, right before school starts, couldn't have come at a better time.
My email read:
A regular day in NYC... well that's kinda the thing i love about it here. There aren't regular days. Like everyday is a new adventure on its own. You never know who you will meet or what exactly will happen. Don't get me wrong, you can have a very routine life if you want to here- i mean it was built for that (all the business success and such) but it also allows people like myself, to thrive on spontaneity. Frankly, the only routine thing in my life here is getting coffee...
( and working out... am i right besties?)
Today for example. I woke up after a rainy and windy night and NEEDED to go outside. The subways were still closed, taxis still sparse and yet people were out on the streets wanting to enjoy their Sunday off. Though it was 12 in the afternoon, it looked about 7pm for it was very dark. There was a sense of camaraderie among all of us walking the streets, blessed to not have been affected by the storm, and eager to find a cafe that decided to stay open regardless of all the hurricane warnings. Callie and I walked to one of my favorite coffee shops I only go to in the summer, because it's so close to the Hudson River, called Mojo. We each got our iced coffee's with soy and ventured towards the river.
We sat on a wooden bench right on the river and watched the water crash from the fast winds, the clouds race across the sky- quickly but elegantly, and the various New Yorkers on their morning run or walking their dogs. It seemed everyone wanted to be outside regardless of the chill and the 50mph winds. Oh but the wind made the tree's sing! The rustling of the leaves in the "too quiet for NYC" atmosphere was angelic. Callie and i hardly spoke as we sat on the bench for an hour and gradually calmed as we gazed into the river.
Then we went to find another cafe and stumbled upon the PATH cafe on Christopher street. A cool little place with art and chill music. We sat in our booth and read our separate books for two hours over tea, and of course sharing wit one another our interesting quotes as they popped up. Each of us going in and our of prayer and reading prayer and reading. I finished my book, "Just Kids" by Patti Smith and felt so accomplished! You know that feeling one gets when finishing a book that's for sheer pleasure?
By now it was 6p.m. We went home. I made some dinner (bell peppers with onions, soybeans, olive oil and sesame seeds) and Callie ate her salad. Then a friend FB'd her and said he was in NYC. We told him to meet us at Washington square park. He was super silly. A really tall gangly guy with blond hair and thick rimmed glasses. He had so much spunk and no shame. He was a musician who had recently been discovered while playing in the park by the same guys who produced Michael Jackson and Elvis!? The three of us went to my favorite bakery, Roccos, for some dessert and hot cocoa and learned more about one another.
The night was still young. I suggested we go find a guitar and he can play us his songs at Washington Square Park! He agrees. The huge fountain in the middle of the park was asking for us to come, sit down and play. He began his acoustic melodies. The empty park embraced his music with open arms. Soon the barren fountain surrounded by lit lamp posts and green tree's began to swell with people as his music persisted. Callie and I harmonized along to his gorgeous voice. Late night people in their 20's gathered closer to hear his original tunes. Two free spirited girls took off their shoes and hopped in the fountain and began dancing playfully along. One girl holding a sunflower in her hand without a care in the world while the other came up to us and offered some of her jasmine tea with gin~ a drink only she with her unbuttoned excitement would have concocted.
His music was the perfect accomplice to this adventurous night. The stillness from the storm united all of us. everyone applauded as he finished his last song. His music created a small community in that moment. So a regular day in NYC...what's that like? well I'm not the one to tell you, my days are anything but regular...
By now it was 6p.m. We went home. I made some dinner (bell peppers with onions, soybeans, olive oil and sesame seeds) and Callie ate her salad. Then a friend FB'd her and said he was in NYC. We told him to meet us at Washington square park. He was super silly. A really tall gangly guy with blond hair and thick rimmed glasses. He had so much spunk and no shame. He was a musician who had recently been discovered while playing in the park by the same guys who produced Michael Jackson and Elvis!? The three of us went to my favorite bakery, Roccos, for some dessert and hot cocoa and learned more about one another.
The night was still young. I suggested we go find a guitar and he can play us his songs at Washington Square Park! He agrees. The huge fountain in the middle of the park was asking for us to come, sit down and play. He began his acoustic melodies. The empty park embraced his music with open arms. Soon the barren fountain surrounded by lit lamp posts and green tree's began to swell with people as his music persisted. Callie and I harmonized along to his gorgeous voice. Late night people in their 20's gathered closer to hear his original tunes. Two free spirited girls took off their shoes and hopped in the fountain and began dancing playfully along. One girl holding a sunflower in her hand without a care in the world while the other came up to us and offered some of her jasmine tea with gin~ a drink only she with her unbuttoned excitement would have concocted.
His music was the perfect accomplice to this adventurous night. The stillness from the storm united all of us. everyone applauded as he finished his last song. His music created a small community in that moment. So a regular day in NYC...what's that like? well I'm not the one to tell you, my days are anything but regular...
