By Lia
There is something about summertime New York that, for me, always brings up mixed feelings. In the city, you spend so much of your year being cold and forced indoors that when the sun is shining and the restaurants open their outdoor seating spaces, you feel as if you just might die from happiness. The clouds lift from your brain and your seasonal depression disappears. The world is your oyster again.
But that’s before the incredible humidity kicks in. Before you feel the concrete and the steel reflecting the heat in such a way that it’s not hard to imagine you may actually be living inside a giant microwave. And this coming from a girl who grew up in Florida. The point at which I have to say I feel hot or uncomfortable from heat is the same point that other people are passing out or running for the hills (assuming they can make it that far.) And in New York in the summer, I say I’m hot all.the.time.
And so for the last few years, save for last summer when I spent weekend mornings training for the marathon, I’ve come to regard summer as a very happy time, albeit time that I spend parked in front of my air conditioner when I’m not at brunch. And it’s resulted in a number of summers where I simply haven’t taken advantage of the incredible playground that is New York City between June and September. Baseball games. Concerts. Train rides to the beach. It’s all there and not very expensive if you know where to look…you just have to be willing to leave your a/c behind. And I’ve got myself into some bad habits.
However, I have a good feeling the next few years will be the very last where I’m not bound to anyone or anything in a tangible way. Just me, my boyfriend and my dog…free to enjoy everything and anything without any “real” responsibility. And I’m determined to enjoy every last minute of it.
Which is why I flew out of work at 5:30 on a Monday and went to Central Park for a concert. I’ve lived here for eight years and only done this twice. Doesn’t that just sound awful? How is it even possible? But no time like the present to change things up. Here is one of my favorite bands to dance to, Foster the People, live in Central Park last night:
It felt so good to be outside, where GC and I actually ran to some of Erin’s friends out of the clear blue sky, and we all sat and talked and enjoyed the concert as a big group. I tried to capture the moment, even though typical GC and I can’t just take a regular photo…and that is why all of our pictures together involve one of us looking normal and the other looking…not normal. Like so:
But that’s a small matter. We danced, we held hands, we drank wine out of a plastic cup. It was just the way a summer night in New York City should feel and I’m determined to have as many as I can exactly like it.
