9.11.2007

Now I'm Homesick...for NYC

I want bagels and lox and real pizza and eggs in a diner. (Lucky mrspao!) I want Vietnamese food and Thai and Korean and sushi and stores filled with real cheese and butcher shops and Italian bakeries. Hot dog stands and real coffee shops and delis and diners and even over-priced Balduccis. I want a city bustling with people, I don't want to have to drive just to get a carton of milk, I want to be able to walk and take the bus and subway everywhere again, and grab a bite with friends whether its 4 am or noon or midnight.


I always post this same picture of the city skyline because I took it at one of my favorite times of day--sunset--looking east across the Hudson River from Hoboken, the place I made my hometown for nearly twenty years. To me it is the perfect skyline view, and the perfect picture of the place I still consider "home." (I've never lived in Pennsylvania, the place my parents call "home"--they'd already moved away by the time I was born.)

What you can't see in this picture is the missing towers. They would be right behind the building reflecting the light most brightly, and about three times as tall, as I remember. So this photo is both very nostalgic--as I used to walk past this spot almost daily--and very, very sad to me.

It's 9/11 and I'm still not smoking. For the past five years I've spent the day, maybe the week, mostly in bed--we'll just have to see what tomorrow brings. It's an extremely hard day for me and I miss my NYC hometown very much.

New York, I love you.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

it's okay shannah, i miss it too. that picture kills me... actually any time i go by downtown manhattan, i still feel a bit lost b/c there was a part of all of us in those towers that day they went down.

and yes. i miss all of those things you mention as well too. i may be in an area that is still described as a culinary mecca, but you still can't find a decent hot dog, lox, italian bakery with cannolis or a greasy breakfast sandwich anywhere out here. all you can get are fresh fruits and veggie (yuck).

Shadkitty said...

That's a gorgeous picture.

I still remember that day exactly. We lived not far from DC and were let out of school early because many of the kids had parents that worked there.

Barbara-Kay said...

Oh, Kitten, so many of the things you mentioned in the first paragraph are things you could now truly SMELL now that you're not smoking. If we had "smellavision", as Emeril Lagasse often says, you could watch a New York show and enjoy. VBG!

Anonymous said...

9/ll/01
ALWAYS REMEMBER
GOD BLESS AMERICA

***we miss you too*****

roxtarc said...

tell me what you need me to send you.. i could mail it express! ;)

the tears are here (and not just beause i'm hormonal) its a dreary day today and it fits...

sigh
(and good for you re the no smoke, its almost 8 mos free for me) ;)

mrspao said...

Hug. It is a hard day today. It will be a couple of years at least before I get to visit again. I love the photo you posted - it is perfect.

Anonymous said...

Whenever I see a photo of New York now, I feel shock.

I used to work in one of those tall shiny office buildings on Battery Park (right near where the WTC used to be) and I just can't imagine what it must have been like for the people there that day. Also, I have not been back to New York since 9/11 and I simply can't imagine seeing the skyline without the Towers. Photos like your last one always remind me of my kids' "What's Wrong With This Photo" games.

Please thank Mr. O'Kitten for allowing you to post his very interesting photos. Sorry you miss NYC, but congrats on still not smoking!

RheLynn said...

**Awww** sends you a hug via the hug bunny. Your description of living in a big city reminds me that I too, here in the backwoods of Tennessee, am very far away from anything I used to think was 'the big city' -- even though it was really a small city compared to most, the all-night diners and coffee shops and ethnic delicacies were still much more available than here and it is lonesome sometimes not to be able to easily go sit for an hour in a bookstore or get a hot pastrami and swiss on pumpernickel at ten pm ;)