Bright Lights, Big City

When I was younger, I loved when my Aunt Stephanie or Uncle Vin would take me into New York City for the day and bring me on all sorts of cosmopolitan adventures. The Central Park Zoo, lunch at Jackson Hole on the UWS, an afternoon taping of whatever show my Uncle happened to be producing at the time, dropping into the video store on Columbus to end the day with a movie on the couch. I remember being so in awe of them and their wheeling freedom in NYC--how did they know their way around this place? Which way was North? What avenue was where? I'll admit that as much as I loved the city, I did harbor quite an intense fear of it, or should I say, fear of being on my own there. It always seemed vast and confusing to me, too "grown up" for me to handle. But thankfully I had my own tour guides to keep those fears at bay, and with them by my side, whirling me around Manhattan, I was free to revel in the city's energy and bottomless intrigue.

Now, while I did say "younger", I will admit that my trepidation with regards to NYC extended a bit past my childhood, and even into my college years. Which is why it was no bigger a surprise for anyone but myself when I decided to move there when I graduated. I suppose somewhere within me I recognized that it was time to begin my own education on "how to be a savvy city dweller". And, as some of my other writings on the glorious, mysterious, ever changing NYC will tell you, I am so glad that I did.

But what led me to reminisce on my adventures with my aunt and uncle was when I was walking up M street the other night, on the way to meet my cousin, Jacqueline. She is a freshman at Georgetown, and having just transferred here this semester she's brand new to DC. We went to see a movie, and in making our plans during the day, I suggested that she meet me at the theater. I was humbled at this suggestion when she admitted she didn't know how to get to the theater---and I realized that the role that my Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Vin had played so many times was now being passed onto me. I am now the one that knows my way around, that doesn't view the city as a foreign landscape, that "gets it."

Oh, what a wistful feeling. A little sadness--that I am no longer young and innocent enough to be led around the wonders of a city--but a little pride, as well. That in taking the plunge and moving to Manhattan, I acquired that casual, metropolitan like abandon that my Aunt and Uncle carried so well. That I can now make Jackie feel a little more at home in DC and hopefully instill in all of my younger cousins the same passion and verve for city life that was passed onto me. Because there is really nothing like that moment when the swirling, bustling streets of a city no longer make you nervous, but instead, feel like home.