What Comes Next

Today is gorgeous in Manhattan. I sat outside this little cafe in Williamsburg this morning, talking with my dear friend Juju (hi Juju!)on the phone. I told her how the sky is that clean kitten eye blue, with little puffs of clouds here and there. Then I told her about how one of the greatest discoveries we've made here is the "Happy Laundry" place around the corner from our apartment. We can drop off a sack of laundry and for a few bucks we can return three hours later to a stack of clean laundry, folded pristinely, neatly, aesthetically pleasingly. For this reason, I love my underwear for the first time in my life. They fold it into perfect squares the size of hamburger patties. Oh the pleasing delicate patterns in a short stack! So beautiful to the eye! So easy to put away! When I showed it to Graham, he nearly giggled himself silly.

All this is to say that things are already accumulating in our favor. You forget when when you start something completely new, that everything seems hard. You feel like a toddler, learning to say "Please" and "Thank You." It seems simple enough, but instead it comes out, "Peez" and "Dank-Ew"--not quite right. Everything is high maintenance. You go out of your way to get the simplest of things, because you don't know where else to get them. Then bit by bit--S L O W L Y--little things fall into place. Instead of the 25 minute subway ride to Union Square for groceries, we now walk down the street to the local market, where avocados are under a dollar! Thanks to the wonderful, WONDERFUL Felicia, I now know of a cheap DELICIOUS Thai place for dinner. On a walk, I also rediscovered my favorite bookstore, St. Mark's Bookshop, and got to show it to Graham, who fell in love with it.

We went on a long walk through the east village last night. I think I want to walk around with a t-shirt that says I (HEART) the EAST VILLAGE. It's always been my favorite place in New York, and last night I remembered why. All the public gardens, with the weeping willows spilling out onto the street; a neighborhood produce sale; red faced brick buildings with people hanging out on the roof; the murals; people calling out on the street from cafes. SO GREAT.

During our walk, I realized that this is a very unique time in my New York life. This will be the only time I am completely outside of it--where EVERYTHING is like turning a page to discover what comes next. I'm not quite intimate with it yet--I haven't even scratched the surface. I STILL get excited when I see the old subway signs. I STILL love the sight of the Empire State Building. Yet, New York remains a mystery to me. Although my things arrived last week, my life isn't quite here yet.

Graham took me to a bar he'd discovered on St. Mark's. Tiled, low ceiling, a cat making the rounds, and popcorn for a buck--it was perfect. Also, it wasn't HIP in the slightest way, so I didn't feel like I was entering A SCENE. Because I rarely drink, I got buzzed on my one gin and tonic. Graham and I made our way home, arm and arm, zig zagging to the subway. Last night was the first time in the three weeks that I'd been here that I thought, "I think I'm going to like this place." I went home and drew a picture of us in my journal and wrote down all the discoveries, turning the page to see what comes next.