A few pictures from our trip to the Aquarium. (Note: almost all of these were taking in extremely low light, lower than my rusty old Nikon that only goes to ISO 1600 can really handle.)
A Visit to the Aquarium
Reply
Sleeping in Seattle
We are here. After several weeks of finalizing the decision, making arrangements, saying goodbye in a thousand ways to the people and city that we love – not to mention a trip to Disney World – we packed up our life in New York and got onto a plane to Seattle. With 14 bags of crap.
Being here so far has been a bit surreal. We are exploring the city, of course, but that makes it feel like we are on vacation. Well, vacation where we go to Target pretty much everyday. Even our temporary housing feels like we’ve rented a condo for a week, like we might if we were going skiing or something – especially with a walk-in closet and a fireplace. Paul starts work tomorrow, though, and I am pretty sure that the enormity of this will hit me like a ton of bricks at some point this week.
Until that happens, though, I am glad that we’ve been having fun.
Every ending is a new beginning
Sunset from my NYC rooftop
I am leaving New York City.
There, I’ve said it. Paul has been offered a job in Seattle and we are going to take it. We are going to leave this place that I love, these people whom I love, and we are going to start a new life very far away. I am terrified.
I know that it’s a good decision for my family, but the very truth is that I don’t want to go. I love it here. I love my friends and I love my family and I love this city. I love *being* a New Yorker. I love the hustle and bustle, I love Central Park, and pizza, and tiny little stores in Nolita and the West Village. I love that my kid plays in the fountains at the playground when it’s hot out and that we can watch the skaters at Rock Center when it’s cold. I love waking up on a weekend morning, throwing on clothes and popping out to buy bagels and coffee, while others are on their way in after a long crazy night. I hate that the city will go on without me and I won’t be here. My kids won’t remember it. They won’t remember riding the subway or running around the Museum of Natural History or riding the carousel in Bryant Park. They won’t watch movies set here and know that you cannot just turn a corner in Tudor City and end up at the South Street Seaport, Jason Bourne, I don’t care how cool you are.
I don’t even think I can talk about how much I am going to miss my people. My family and friends. The first time that Avery asks for James and he is thousands of miles away, I think I am going to have a breakdown. They are almost as close as siblings and we are tearing them apart. It makes me incredibly sad, makes me doubt whether we are really doing the right thing. I have a support network here. If I need to go to the hospital, there are people who will take care of my children at a moment’s notice. I’m not sure what to do without them.
But it comes down to this. We can’t really stay. It’s taking too much out of us and we need to go somewhere else. The sacrifices it would require to stay are just too much for us, so we need to find a new place. After living here, there aren’t many places I’d consider, and Seattle is one of them. I wish it weren’t so far away, but I am going to give it a shot.
“New York is the hot girlfriend who you aren’t going to marry, but you don’t want to break up with her either.” My friend said this last night and, silly as it is, it’s true. I love you, New York, but you can’t give me what I need. It’s not you, it’s me. I hope we can stay friends.
thekamster 