It's sort of like dessert. I love donuts, chocolate cake and canolis, but really hate the resulting ooze over the top of the pants. Or winter. I love snow but hate freezing my eyeballs when it's -12 degrees. And I obsessively adore the NY Rangers but want to strike them all down with giant ogre fists when they lose. What can you do? You have to take the good with the bad.
New York City is the same. There's so much good. Nearly infinite (and superb) dining options, that thrill when you first glimpse the skyline after being away, quaint cobblestone streets of Brooklyn and that amazing vitality omnipresent 24 hours a day. It's the only place in the world like it. Yet it's also a pressure-cooker of claustrophobia and tiny size -4 fashionistas who make you feel like crap merely by walking down the street.
We're in a constant state of evaluating whether or not it's somewhere we would return to on a more permanent basis. Actually, we're searching for our utopia. Isn't there a place on the planet that has those NYC qualities but with affordable, ideal housing (lake on one side, ocean on another and mountains surrounding), quick and easy access to nature, six-figure jobs for both of us (mine would be two days a week) and every single friend and family member of ours within a 10-block radius? Is that too much to ask?
The reality is twofold. Utopia doesn't exist and it wouldn't be easy to just pack up and move there. As much as we hem and haw over where we most want to settle, we don't often get to chose our destinations. Therefore, we have to invest in non-place based satisfaction. Like our jobs and our dwellings and our out of work time activities. It's tough though, because no matter what you do and no matter where you park your carcass, the grass always seems to be greener on the other side of Connecticut.
Oh Yes, the angst of being alive and soooo many
ReplyDeletechoices....thanks for the belly laughs in reading
your thoughts...love the pic!