Friday, April 16, 2010

Acquiring a Dream



I have always been fascinated with New York City. As a child, it was movies like King Kong, Arthur, Escape from New York and Ghostbusters and later Wall Street that introduced me to the city. They all used the city in different ways, but I was intrigued by the large building and busy streets. Of course Escape was quite dark in tone and visual appearance, it did highlight some of the streets.


Then as I got older, I could stay up New Year's Eve to watch the ball drop in Times Square. It was quite a sight, even on our small tv, to see hundreds of thousands of people on the street waiting for the new year to come. Throw in all those Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parades and I thought that this was one happening city. I had to see it for myself.


It was not until my teenage years that I got to visit, but that was only in short spurts for the St. Patrick's Day Parade. I was in high school and the marching band would travel to take part. We really did not get to see much, because we would take the four hour drive there in the morning and leave in the evening. The time we walked about was on the parade route and at the end we had to jump back on the bus. I did enjoy looking at the city though, while on the bus. The tall buildings really fascinated me, as they do till this day.

In the 1990's I did travel there once for an overnight. A couple of friends went to a concert at the Beacon Theatre. We drove in, went to the hotel, then the show, then back to the hotel to sleep, woke up and drove home. Not much happened on this trip, but the show and theatre were cool.


It would be another 10 years + before I got back to the city. By then, I was married with 2 kids. The dream of moving there had waned due to priorities, but the love of the big city was still there. The family has been there several times on our way to and from vacations. We usually spend the better part of the day walking in the Midtown area seeing the large sites, such as Rockerfeller Center, St. Patrick's Cathedral and Times Square. Having one pre teen means we have also made the trip to the American Girl's store quite often.

Also, my wife and I spent as lovely day and a half there a couple of years back, to take in a theatre show. It was probably my favorite time, because it was a rare opportunity for the 2 of us to be alone and we got to walk about the city quite a bit. We plan on going back later this year to see another show. This time it will be 2 nights and we are looking forward to visit the lower part of Manhattan.

The dream of moving to NYC has pick with these little trips there. It would mean quite the uprooting for the family. My wife and I always discuss the possibilities of moving to different places and at least we do share these common thoughts. I am the only one working right now and it would only mean one job change for now. Also, there is the possibility of just buying vacation property there, but that would be quite the expense. You never know though, that's why we have dreams...

2 comments:

  1. Interesting blog. Where do you live now? I hope you're not restricting yourself to Manhattan. My sister in law and her family have a nice place in Queens despite being working class and making what most people would scoff at as a "New York salary" - basement apartment for additional income, reasonable subway ride to work, the actual ability to own a car and park, and all the fun and games of all five boroughs at their doorstep in their off-time. They live frugally, but happily.

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  2. Hi Guiness416, My ideal would be to be on Manhattan, preferably south of 100th street. But I understand the limitations involved. I think if I were to work in the area in the near future, I would mocve to the Queens/Brooklyn area. There are some good neighborhoods and schools in the area.

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