New York State of Mind
From the minute we arrived in Manhattan more than 32 years ago, I knew THIS was the place for me. No suburbs, ever. Suburbs looked too much like the small town I grew up in, and I wanted the opposite of that. Nothing has made me rethink that basic decision, and my attitude is reflected in my favorite TV show Mad Men and the trailer for Revolutionary Road (not that I would actually see the movie because I can’t bear movies or novels about married couples who hate each other). In any case, once I got addicted to theater, the suburbs weren’t an option.
But — and this is a BIG “but” for me — New York can be a lonely and tiring place to live. Just the everyday stress of the subway and picking your way through crowded streets. So many ambitious people. Tired of your job? Don’t worry, 20 other (younger) people would love to have it. Even in a recession, it’s hard to find a genuinely friendly clerk in a store. You can easily go through the day with very little personal interaction other than your co-workers.
Luckily for me, I arrived here a newlywed and never had to try to meet someone special. I think that would be SO hard. I just Netflixed the movie Broken English starring Parker Posey (she’s from the south but was playing a native New Yorker!) about a lonely, anxious single woman who’s good at her job but doesn’t love it and can’t find happiness with a man. Such a sad movie.
It makes me laugh that my adorable daughter is settling down in Atlanta and can’t be sweet-talked into moving home to live near her mama. “I don’t want to come back here and see the same people from the same schools in the same places,” she says. Manhattan is a small town to her!
