For the rest of the day I thought about our conversation. I had not been able to explain to him why I was clinging to a life in Manhattan. In fact the cost (both financial and personal) of living here is astronomical. A subway or bus ride is $2.75, the average rent for a two bedroom/900 sq. foot apartment is $3,000 per month, and paying $14.00 for a hamburger (without fries) at a casual restaurant is the norm. Traffic congestion, delays in subway transportation, crush of pedestrians on sidewalks, crappy landlords, and ear piercing sirens and honking horns fray your nerves. We've been here four and a half years and after Cameron graduates from high school in June we are technically free to leave. Where we'd go would be whole different blog, but there will be nothing actually tethering us. Yet last week I was talking to a co-worker touting how lucky we are to work for such a wonderful company and she said, "You'll stay with the company until you retire, won't you." I shook my head yes without hesitation. I do see myself leaving New York some day to ultimately move back to our beloved Colorado, but for now, there is something that, despite everything, keeps me here.
After church Jeff and I were walking on the Upper West Side heading home. It was an unseasonably warm day with just enough of a bite in the air to keep everyone dressed (New Yorker's are better looking dressed than undressed). I decided to pull my cell phone out and snap some pictures of things that I love about New York.
Jeff took issue with the Murray's Sturgeon Shop. He asked if I'd ever been in the store, and I said that I had not, but... if I wanted sturgeon I know where to find it. As chain stores run the local merchant out of business more and more it's quaint and comforting to know that Murray's is holding his ground.
We were trying to decide where to have lunch to avoid the $14 hamburger, but we did not want the obvious "slice of pizza" option. I had seen Broadway Restaurant listed on Best Diners in NYC in TimeOut Magazine, and even though it's only a few blocks from our apartment we'd never been, so we headed uptown. Now diner's are not unique to New York and I would guess that the best are nowhere near a city, but there is something very comforting about New York's Greek diners. It's not the food that you go for. It's the endless refills on the coffee, the waitress with limited English, and the variety of food that they serve from pancakes to gyros, and spaghetti to moussaka.
With all of the ongoing unrest you might think that living in a city with such extreme religious diversity might be stressful, but in fact I find it fascinating. Honestly, before moving here I wasn't even aware of certain sects of Catholicism and Judaism . And the amazing architecture of many of these institutions is awe inspiring. I ride the subway with people who wear their religion on their sleeves, for lack of a better term, and I have NEVER seen anyone show disrespect to another person due to their religion. I will admit that I tend to stare, but it's only because I'm curious about the clothes and what goes on in the mind of a person who is so devoted to their religion that in one of the most modern cities in the world they would cling to such old world traditions. 
Finally we ended up in Central Park, only half a block from our apartment. For twenty two years I had a yard and I will tell you that keeping a tidy lawn is not something that I ever found pleasure in, so there is never a time when I'm in the park that I don't appreciate how lucky I am to have such an amazing green space in my own backyard. 
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