Yesterday I woke up as a New York resident for the last time. In the last year I’ve been hyping up this move, on my instagram, this blog and just in conversation amongst friends. Exactly one year ago today I started this blog as a tribute to my 14 years in Manhattan. This last week at my classes I’ve been announcing my move in a way that had clients asking where and they were surprised to learn it was only an hour away. I’m a little dramatic to say the least, I will admit but anybody who lives in New York City knows that to leave it is a big deal. Yes I am only an hour-ish away but waking up here most definitely feels like a world away. Yesterday I drank my coffee on the Q train at 5:00 in the morning. Today I’m leisurely sipping it as I sit on my newly purchased big-girl couch looking out the window at trees. I could make comparisons all day about city and country living but as I look back at my 14 years in NYC I find it fascinating to think about not only how much I have changed but how much the world in general has changed. Facebook had not yet been invented much less instagram. The hashtag was still the pound sign and to send a text you had to press the numbers multiple times to get to the letter you needed. It would also have cost you 10 cents to both send AND receive texts. “Texting” and “selfie” were not yet words in the dictionary. When I moved here, a Bush was still in office, Trump was a reality tv show host, marijuana was illegal and homosexual marriage was gasp worthy. If you wanted to watch a movie you had to go to Blockbuster to rent one and music was downloaded from a cd to your computer and then to your large iPod NOT your phone which at the time was the coolest thing since sliced bread. Actually probably since discmans but you get the point. There were no smart phones, bluetooth speakers or tablets and the lightest laptop you could get was probably 10 pounds. Ground zero was still a big hole of construction and the Freedom Tower was still up for discussion. The subway cost $1.75. There were no Ubers or Lyfts and $20 would get you to anywhere in Manhattan by simply raising your hand to call a yellow cab. It’s insane to think about how much has changed in so little time and how quickly time passes by. When I moved here, I was 18 years old. I didn’t know one single person living in the city. Now I have an amazing group of people I can call my friends but could lean on like family. Almost half my life was in NYC and looking back it feels like I just got here. I guess I always knew deep down it wouldn’t be forever but at the same time, to live in the city once makes you a New Yorker forever. 

So here I sit, day one of my whole new life and I’m sure before I can believe it this chapter too will end and I’ll be looking back in awe of how quickly time flies once again. Maybe I’ll write a blog about that too. In the meantime, I’ll continue to write about the people and memories I made in NYC while I create a whole bunch of new ones just an hour north of it. I’m excited about this whole new world I have woken up in and I’m excited about the memories I’ll make here too. 

Like in many of my blogs, I shift to speak directly to who I am writing about. I turn this to you now, New York City. You weren’t always good to me. Sometimes you pushed me down. Sometimes you made me wonder what the heck I was doing but also you made me stronger, braver, and most certainly sassier. You led me to my husband and you led me to my two best friends, now my sisters. You brought people into my life I didn’t know I needed and you helped me discover that the people worth investing your time in, invest in you in return. You taught me to decide what I want and go get it. You exposed me to diversity and culture and taught me how to appreciate our differences. I will miss your energy and your spark but will take some of it with me forever. New York, I love you for all of your flaws and all of your magic. This is not good bye though, it’s just see ya later.