A snow day by any other name...

A snow day! I hadn’t imagined, when I took this new job, that I’d get a snow day. I’m thrilled. Yesterday, with blizzard-terror instilled in us all, I packed my backpack in a manner of which Brown Pop would be proud. We’d been told to come prepared to stay overnight, in case conditions got worse more quickly than predicted, and in case we needed to babysit hundreds of stranded passengers until flights were moving again. Thanks to the logic of the company, and the fact that they really do seem to put our safety as a top priority, the decision came from France: cancel all except the first flight out on Monday and all flights on Tuesday. Get the bulk of the employees home safely before public transportation shuts down.

And shut down it did. Most of us started our trek home around 5pm. I usually take a bus and then air train to work; I heard that the air train shut down about 7pm last night and the buses started shutting down around 9pm. By 11pm, the subway and trains shut down, and a curfew was put in place for all except emergency vehicles and snowplows. The mayor made sure to emphasize that food delivery bikes were not considered emergency vehicles in case some were unsure. (Although there’s now a conspiracy theory flying around about the Governor secretly keeping the subways running even though he told the city they were shutting down…pretty tricky of him, eh? For what reason? Who can figure...) The city is pretty creative when it comes to plows, by the way; with eight million people, you can imagine just how many garbage trucks this city uses. Many of those same garbage trucks become snowplows when the white stuff starts to fall. I'm impressed.

So now here we are cozied up in our tiny space, while the snow continues to fall, all warm and toasty; grateful for this life I now live. The blizzard fizzled out in our area leaving only 11-20 inches; that’s barely enough to cancel school up here! I’m sure they’ll joke about the little blizzard that wasn’t for weeks, but for now, I’ll soak up every second of my snow day and have another cup of coffee. 

Our new space….

Fifty days ago, we moved to New York. It felt longer; it felt shorter. Yesterday, we moved into our new space. It is tiny, I meant to say cozy, but the only thing that I’m not sure it will hold is our gratitude…because we feel a lot of that right now.

The uncles (our moving crew) said it: this place is perfect for us. It is so close to the public transportation that it practically IS a bus stop (and almost as small cozy!) We can be to the sub in 5 minutes and then bee-line it into the city on the F train. What’s even better? We found the place without an agent which saved us a bundle; we’re on the top, back (aka: away from traffic noise) corner of a small complex with two sunrise-facing windows, a massive tree right outside, and a swell little view of distant buildings. We’re close to everything, but just far enough away that peace and quiet is here when we desire. We discovered that our neighbor talks on the phone at an unusually loud volume, but it is so much quieter than I would have ever imagined a NY studio apartment.

I’m sitting here listening to the becoming-ever-so-familiar popping/hissing/pinging of the steam heat. This strange noise makes me smile; I’m still not sure why. Perhaps it is because it seems so New York-ish. Perhaps it is because it makes me aware of the fact that we are here. Literally. Last spring, our relocation ambitions seemed so huge; I would think about the distance, figuratively, from where we were to where I could see us in the future, and the gap seemed daunting. Now here we sit, in our little corner of this fascinating, magical, inspirational, captivating city.

Fifty days ago, we moved to New York. 

a month into life in our new city

One month...and a few days. It's a quiet, rainy, sunny, snowy, but nevertheless, inspiring Saturday morning in our glorious new city. Not all has gone according to plan, but other events have far surpassed any plans we could have imagined.  We're still camped out in the spare bedroom of family good-natured-ness, while we learn that the apartment market in NYC is craz-i-ness for sure. Talk about life in the fast lane! Our agent called to show us a studio last week only to find out that it had been leased by another agent before we could even physically arrive at his office. Lightening fast! Still, we are getting closer...soon....

We've also learned that "cozy" is NYC slang for small-ass-tiny-practically-microscopic. But how we adore cozy little studios, so we're A-okay with this. (And our future guests will have to be fond of this--and us--as well!) We both share this conviction of one's responsibility to take up as little space/resources on this earth as possible, so we're excited by this idea. (As a side note, have you heard of the tiny house movement such as tumbleweed tiny houses? We are both fascinated and inspired by this concept, and I encourage you to check it out and give it some thought.)

Oh, and then there's the day we got married.....Oh yes, we did. January 10th. It was a beautiful, snowy morning. I've never been happier and more at peace with any decision in my entire life. I am beyond grateful for this beautiful soul--force of nature--and our life together. She gets me and still wanted to marry me. Yay me! I am truly home.  

I know New York is not the place for everyone, but it seems a beautiful fit for us. Overall, I love the people here; they have this invigorating sense about them that I find brilliant. The city itself carries a personality that makes one feel as though it is a real person, for lack of a better word. It is not just a place in which to live; it is an essence that one has an ongoing conversation with--an old friend who accepts you just as you are while pushing you to reach beyond yourself. 

Once we find and settle in to our cozy apartment, I'll try to communicate on a more regular basis. Keep your fingers crossed for us, please, on all accounts. Resumés are going out in record numbers. For now, peace to everyone and remember to slow down and enjoy the moments. 

Ciao, 

K Wimberley Casey