New to New York

Sunday, March 9, 2014

First day in New York….so good!  

I could not resist Barnes and Noble, I read part of The Last American Man (highly recommend it,) and when I put the book down a voice from behind me asked, “you traveling?”  “What gave it away?” I said with a wink as I turned around.  A good looking, weathered man stood in front of me, short and in his sixties.  He shrugged with a smile and pointed to my Osprey backpack with a tent poking out the top.  “Let me buy you dinner, I know how it is to be a traveler,” he said.  Wow, my stomach jumped for joy inside me…I wasn’t planning on eating dinner.  As we chatted over soup, I learned that Sam had immigrated from Poland when he was 20.  He has hiked or bicycled across 43 states.  He met his Chilean wife at Cabo when they were both on vacation, and they go down twice a year to stay in their house in Chile.  A couple years ago he had a bush pilot drop him and a friend off deep in the Northern Territories of Canada, they brought no food, just guns, and planned to live off what they caught.  The first two days were unsuccessful, but after the third day they got the hang of it and ate well.  Sam listened to my Alaska adventure as if I were telling him about going to Central Zoo.  But there were no cages between me and the grizzly bear!  This was a man who understood me, and we were kindred spirits in many ways.  After the meal I expressed my gratitude and said it was amazing to meet him.  He replied, “well, it wasn’t amazing, but maybe now I found a sailing instructor if you come around in the summer.” (His wife bought him a kayak that turns into a sailboat.)  That last comment made me laugh as he walked away.  

A few minutes later I caught the eyes of a girl my age a few times, and the third time we both smiled, so I decided to go over and talk to her.  Kate has liquid blue eyes, and a sunshine smile. She grew up in Iowa, and has lived here for a year.  She works trying to connect non-profits with the famous and the rich to help lobby for their causes in Washington.  She has some amazing stories of some New York legends that she knows.  We’re going to meet up tomorrow and explore New York like locals.   

I was happy as I walked north on broadway, talking on the phone to some good friends.

I am now writing from my sleeping bag, on top of pine boughs, up a small ridge from a walkway in Central Park. I can hear a small waterfall nearby. I'm watching raccoons and possums and giant rats and squirrels and cats scurry back and forth on top of a frozen pond. Such diversity of mammals in a city! I am grateful for them. They connect me to something bigger that is beyond these cement walls and asphalt carpets.  Above me, through the tree branches the lights of the skyline are visually appealing and temporarily distract me from my deeper feelings toward them.  I'm actually hot in the 32 degree weather, I'm shedding layers.  Thank you acclimatization and Toronto’s fierce weather that I experienced for a month.  Tomorrow doesn't exist, all there is today. I think I'm living closer to that truth.  I don't have any plans.  And I am happy, I'm smiling from the inside.   

This isn’t the intro to my blog, but it’s the first post.  Welcome.