A bike for a penny makes another New York dream

May 6, 2010

The things that I think will stay with me most about New York is the sense of community here – people are so proud of their city and they want you to love it too.

You can spend days going in the wrong direction but someone will always want to help you out. We’ve met so many people on the subway, which might sound kind of strange, but when you know you’re on a limited time frame a bit of chat can be just the thing to bring you up if you’re frazzled.

Days have been lightened by nannies who want to talk about the stresses of caring for other people’s children, people with dogs in bags, old people seeking a connection with the world and today a little girl sat down and held my hand. She leaned into me and said, ‘my magic trick is finding money on the sidewalk, today I found this’. Proudly unfurling her hand to reveal a shiny one cent piece she told me that was going to buy a bike with it.

I’ve had a man give me his umbrella in the rain, we seem to attract restaurant recommendations like we’re wearing a sandwich board that says ‘hungry’ and the other day I looked up when we got out of subway and said to nobody in particular, ‘where are we?’ A homeless guy looked up, smiled and and sung, ‘why, you’re in New York City’.

New York is the city of endless arrival, it welcomes you but also allows you to be a part of it. You can be here a week and have a story and when everything around you seems to be in chaos you can feel calm. Great cities are often different from the countries they are in: London doesn’t reflect England, nor Paris France and New York stands alone in America. There are 800 languages spoken here everyday making it a culturally diverse and thrilling place to be and every day it seems we encounter someone who is cleverer than us, better off in life and successful yet on the flip side so many who are less fortunate. But everyone, it seems, has a story.

There’s a humility that pervades this city and – as the cliche goes – it is the place where dreams arrive, swell, sink and swim. New York’s arms are wide open to those willing to embrace it, whatever complexion your dream. Though some days seem like any other when it’s impossible to leave yourself behind, others can feel like you’re at the centre of the universe making me feel blessed to have been embraced by this great big city.