Empire State of Mind

I realize now that my love for New York is truer than the ocean is blue.

Being back on east coast soil this past week has been the tops. 

It's difficult to articulate

just how perfect everything has been.

And I know it's not for lack of trying by my family and by my friends.

I love that on any given night, you can walk out of work and into a Broadway show.  

I love that a friend is always free for dinner, and an evening stroll.

I love commuting with my dad,

meeting my sister on the sidewalk.

I...I forgot how much I loved walking home

to decompress after being in the office all day.

I forgot how magical Gramercy Park is-

and Madison Square Park and Flatiron:

I love you!  I love you!  I can't say it enough!

image is my own

I forgot how much I loved seeing men in suits,

and forgot about babies and nannies on Park Avenue.

I forgot about flocks of friends heading to happy hour.

And how everyone in this muggy haze of August, shares a knowing smile on the subway.

The camaraderie of New Yorkers.

How? How could I forget all of this?

New York, my heart never swayed ...but my memory got foggy.

And for that I am actually grateful.

Because it's made this trip so very special.

To rediscover the things I used to take for granted.

I thought for a moment there, that I'd lost my inner New York compass...

my first day or so, I was clumsy, confused.

But, it's there.

It's always there,

tethered to my heart.

Pointing east, from west.

xo