The Window

Arriving back home in NYC late last night was really quite magical...The dramatic skyline of Manhattan from the Queensboro bridge was very surreal, especially after staying in Reno, NV for four days, where the skyline consists of a large domed casino called the Silver Legacy and several other casinos and bars scattered along Virginia street with an arched sign that reads “The Biggest Little City In the World” that greets you as you cruise under it on the main street. This is a town with a population of 300,000. The town, in which I grew up silently sits in a dry valley, 50 miles north east of the biggest little city, called Herlong CA. Let’s just say that Herlong is a complete parallel universe to New York. New York has traffic lights. Herlong has none. New York has grocery stores. Herlong has none. New York’s streets bustle with people and life. The street’s in Herlong do not have this, or any of it. Herlong has a population of about 900. Now, you get the picture?!

Almost immediately after entering Manhattan, I saw the first signs of spring. The full blooms of the cherry blossoms were a nice welcome home!! The streets were so quiet and secluded, as if we brought the stillness and isolation from the small town to the big city...not so! It occurred to me that it was midnight on a Monday; of course the streets were quiet…even in New York it gets quiet, not for very long, but there is a short window of calm that fades away swiftly by the early morning commute, sirens, horns, and yelling. As the driver zipped around the steamed filled streets taking us home to our West side apartment, I reflected upon my childhood…the small town, the boredom, and the loneliness. With these thoughts also came a surge of appreciation for my hometown…the pitch black nights, the shimmering stars, the smell of dry desert, and green pine, and an easy way of living. So, when the city gets to be too much for me, when the noise becomes too loud, I’ll wait…I’ll wait for that short window of calm, where the streets are still and the hustle and bustle rest easy.