This past weekend marked a full year since I moved to New York City. It prompts me to ask the obvious question – What’s changed in my life since I’ve been here?
This prompts the even more obvious – What freakin hasn’t?
I feel in so many ways a completely changed person.
I find I identify myself as much with Brooklyn now as I do with New York, something I never anticipated upon arriving here. I feel a deep sense of comradery with my neighborhood which intensifies as focus narrows to my block. I suppose if one wanted to pinpoint a single thing that really illustrates the change in me, it would be that.
For as long as I lived in the south I never once counted myself among southerners, or felt that they really counted me. I was a stranger, even to the very end.
New York for all its people and pace and insanity has wrapped me up in its complicated world and romanced me even more than I could have imagined. I’ve said it many times, and it’s as true as it ever was – It is not easy to exist here, but it is worth every single bit of effort.
Looking forward to year 2 and onward. Stay tuned.
