Stormy Friday Morning

This morning I got caught in one of those surprise torrential downpours. It was sunny across the street. I was at the corner of 59th and Lexington. Bloomingdales hadn’t opened yet, so I ducked under a building with others who decided not to brave the elements. I thought about the episode of Sex and the City where Carrie ducked under the building and met a gorgeous man. Another NYC moment straight from TV. I didn’t meet a gorgeous man, or even an eligible geriatric, but it was a New York moment nonetheless. I started talking to a middle aged, well dressed man. He lives in France and is here for a month on business. He said, “The boom, boom fast pace of the City is too much for me”, and wondered how people can live here. I surprised myself with my answer. “Many times we think about leaving the City after having a moment, or day, with unimaginable hardships that would not happen anywhere else. But then we think about, or experience something magical that could only happen here and we decide to stay, that we can’t live anywhere else, and the magic makes it all worthwhile.” With me, it’s the celebrity sightings, the Upper West side, Central Park, the Tribeca Film Festival, and chance encounters with quirky, interesting, pleasant people. It stopped raining. The man thanked me and said he was lucky to find a nice person to speak to while he waited out the storm. We told each other to have a great day. As we parted, I realized I just had another quintessential NYC encounter that keeps me here. As I turned the corner, a six foot tall jerk in a cheesy suit cut in front of me, blocked my path and refused to move. On principle, I wasn’t moving. I was already late and refused to take even one extra step because of this pockmarked, hair gel wearing Gordon Gecko wannabe. He finally moved to the side. I muttered, “jerk” and walked away.