She Is

In the four years that I've been living in NYC, I've never once spent a Memorial Day Weekend here. I always seem to have travel plans or worst case scenario, I flee to the quiet familiarity of the small town, the parade and the lakeside BBQ. This year as the weekend got closer and closer I realized that I would be staying in NYC for the long weekend. At the last minute my friend decided to visit. The company I work for is generous enough to give us holiday half-days so my weekend was almost four days long. Glorious.

As I sit at this desk struggling to stay awake with every fiber in my being and downing iced coffee as if it were the last drop of liquid on planet earth, I cannot believe that I ever left Manhattan on Memorial Day. The city was empty, the streets and sidewalks were passable, the busses had seats and the weather was amazingly perfect in the I never want this day to end kind of way. There are so many stories and hilarious moments from the past four days that I don't quite think I could list all of them even if I tried (and partially because I only remember about an eighth of them anyways.)

I do however, remember a very unique moment that occurred Sunday night. We had spent most of the day on the roof cooking out and enjoying breath-taking panoramic views of the city. Shortly after dusk, I watched pensively as the lights of midtown twinkled to life. At that moment I realized that I am absolutely and completely in love with this city. I am not ready to leave. I thought I was and my resume still floats out there in cyberspace with companies in Chicago and abroad. But as I stood there, in that moment, New York proved to me once again just how wonderful she really is. Sorry Chicago, you lose again.