New York City is known as “The Big Apple” and “The City That Never Sleeps”. A city filled with skyscrapers, Broadway shows, and people looking to jumpstart their careers. Living only a train ride away, I’ve been to New York City hundreds of times throughout my life. At some point, I started to take this proximity for granted. Whenever I want I can hop on the next train and be at Grand Central within an hour. I don’t have to worry about seeing everything and experiencing all the things that New York is known for in one trip. I can take my own sweet time doing whatever it is that I want. People all around the world dream to visit New York City someday and are in complete awe if and when they do get to come see it. In the back of my mind, I knew all of this but I still took it for granted. This perspective changed during a recent trip to New York City.
At the start of the day, I felt the same way I always have; “another trip to the city with my friends". We got off at Grand Central and made our way to Times Square, after making a pit stop to fuel up on coffee. We sat in a small coffee shop in the Theater District sipping on our mochas discussing our plans for the rest of the day. We talked about what we had done on our previous trips to the City and what we wanted to do that day. After paying our bill, we decided on going to Times Square to shop around.
As we approached the packed area, we made our way to our favorite stores, not paying attention to the crowds of people standing in awe. My friends and I stood in the dressing room for at least twenty minutes trying on different clothes and taking pictures in the huge mirror. After a couple hours browsing through stores, we decided that we wanted to go to Magnolia Bakery. When we reached the bakery, we bought our cupcakes and sat in an outdoor seating area. In that moment, I was able to look around and watch all the people walking around. Being in a less touristy area, I wondering where these people worked and why they chose to live in New York City. This was the first time that day that I was able to take a step back and actually think about the day.
Next we headed to the beautiful Central Park. We went deeper into the park from the perimeter area we were in before we sat down to enjoy our view. Overlooking the greenery were the industrial buildings spread through the City. As I sat in the grass, I saw little kids running around as their parents sat taking a moment to relax. One of the families walking by was talking about how they didn’t want to leave Central Park because they didn’t know if they would ever come back.
After taking a brief detour to Grand Central Station to pick up another member of our little group, we made our way to Times Square to find a place for dinner. At that point in the day, we had been walking all over the City and hadn’t really spent much time sitting. We were all exhausted and were getting hungry so food was on everyone's minds. We spent a while trying to find a place to eat that met our college student budget, which was very difficult considering we were in the middle of Times Square. Due to us being starving, we walked past the well-known breathtaking lights all around. We finally found a place to eat and then made our way back to Grand Central to catch our train home.
For the last time that day, we walked past all the lights in Times Square and that’s when I had a moment of realization. It felt like the chaos and hustle of the City slowed down for just enough time for me to really take in what I was happening around me. There were little kids begging their parents to go into the Disney store, families taking pictures in front of the iconic New Years Eve ball, and everyone focusing on the breathtaking views we had in front of us.
I finally understood how fortunate I was to be able to experience something so beautiful whenever I wanted. Everywhere we had gone that day, we had zipped through. While we were taking everything for granted, there were people visiting New York that had never been there before and might never come back. Whenever I come to the City, I never think that it’s going to be my last time there. I always expect that I’m going to come back. Living so close, that’s the common expectation when people in my area go to the City. However, that doesn’t mean that that will always be right. Sometimes we forget how fortunate we are to have the things that we have. This trip made me appreciate the opportunities I have. This trip made me appreciate New York City again.
