I leave New York City in a week. It's been a fantastic experience so far- I've honestly fallen in love with this city. I caught myself sighing the other day to the sight of a beautiful green, modestly sized apartment building. Stained with the remnants of a sloppy, vandalistic graffiti job - half scrubbed off - and littered with attempts at urban gardens placed in the only available space on the block: between the building and the sidewalk. The advertisements draping either side of the bilateral building blend in to the business of taxis, buses, and pedestrians coming off the subway on the corner of 2nd Ave and E. Houston St. This sight is honestly a treat to those romanced by the by the business of the city. I get it now. I get why people are drawn to New York, like flies to the bright, enchanting light of a bug zapper.
I was skeptical at first and didn't think I would like it at all. But once I got over the compulsive worries of where I was, what train to catch (and in which direction), and the hundreds and hundreds of neighborhood and important street names to remember, I finally could look around. I could finally watch the people around me BEING as they are. I could sit with the rest of the crowd, worn out and ready to be in the comfort of a place to call home, tolerating the blaring headphone music of the (soon to be deaf) person 15 feet away.
I found a temp job at Teach for America where I met some really great people, and recently found a fantastic church that I, unfortunately, will only have gotten to go that one time. I leave in a week and am going to Boston this weekend, but when I come back to this dear, now familiar city, I will return to All Angel's Church. I was reading the blog on their website after church on Sunday, and the priest was posing options for thought about what to give up for Lent. I'd been half-assedly toying with different ideas ("facebook? no, did that last year. sweets? no, I don't like being restricted legalistically like that- it would just be another rule) until his "urge to consider fasting this Lent". Not really something I've considered to be in my spectrum of capabilities previously. But that urge kept on ringing in my ear until Tuesday night I decided to heed the call.
to be continued...
