Moving to New York

Quote: "One belongs to New York City instantly, one belongs to it as much in five minutes as five years." -Tom Wolf

By the end of the week I’ll have signed a lease for an apartment in Manhattan. I’m living with three other people, only one of whom is a casual acquaintance. It wasn’t the original plan. It wasn’t even plan B, but it feels right.

I couldn’t wait for college buddies to get the jobs or the funds required. I couldn’t afford to live on my own. I couldn’t keep talking about the move as if it were something I was going to do "one day". I love my family but I don’t want to live with them. I want to the kind of person who lives in a city, who makes the choice because its scary but necessary. I want to know people I haven’t known since kindergarten, know people from places I’ve never been. 

I’m 24 years old. I’ll be sharing a presumably small 4 bedroom apartment at the top of a sixth floor walk up with three other guys. I’m going to break out of my comfort zone. i’m going to cry at least twice about money. I’ll be taking a 40 minute/20 dollar train ride back to Jersey more than I’d like to admit. There is a girl involved and although i won’t admit out loud, she is a part of the choice.

I said goodbye to someone a few weeks ago. A long and heart breaking goodbye. I slept on the floor of a hospice center for a few nights in a row. I said goodbye to someone who no longer looked like the person I loved. 

I’m learning what forever means.

I’m moving, not because I want to escape, but because i want to make sure I pack a lot of life into how ever many years I get.