My husband and I are packing up my one bedroom Manhattan rent stabilized apartment that I’ve lived in for twenty-six years.
(Stop! If you live in New York City you may feel you’ve hit apartment pay dirt. My announcing I am giving up a rent stabilized Manhattan apartment is better than trolling the obituaries to see who has died.)
We are only moving to our home in the country just 90 minutes away, and I fully expect to be in and out of the city on a regular basis.
But, I can’t believe how many people are telling me “We are going to miss you.” Most of these people I see maybe once or twice a year, if then. We mainly correspond by email or social media or holiday cards. Schedules with work, family and travel take precedent. People tell me, “I’m so crazy busy. I wish I could see more of you.”
I have to ask, “How can you miss me when you never see me?”
Living in Manhattan for nearly thirty years I have always felt like Melanie in Motion. Work hard. Play hard. Leave the city to get away. Time to relax is precious.
Now that my husband and I are planning our Grand Escape to Green Acres we are clinging to our Final Days in Manhattan with the curiosity and fervor of newcomers. We scheduled a “staycation” to explore the five boroughs and visited restaurants and attractions we’ve too busy to try. We traipsed through neighborhoods and side streets with renewed appreciation. For the first time, we hopped a subway to The Bronx to eat pasta on Arthur Avenue and took a Ferry to have breakfast on Staten Island. We never did any of this during the ten years we’ve been together and I certainly never did as a Single in the City gal.
Just the same way I quietly humph! when friends I rarely see say. “We’re going to miss you.” I am convinced the streetscapes and storefronts are silently snickering, “How can you miss us when you never stopped by before?”
Housing Works picks up our donated goods tomorrow, and the moving truck comes Thursday. Today, eager to give Manhattan living one last embrace we decided to keep our bed for one final work free, carefree weekend fling in the city, something we have rarely done in years. On Monday, the bed will find a new home, hopefully to someone who needs a place to rest, I always vowed never to die in that bed or in that apartment. My wish is coming true.
Meanwhile, we are still negotiating what to keep, what to donate and what to toss. Letting go is hard. But setting free is easy. It’s all in how you see it. I am going to miss living in my little apartment and in Manhattan but look forward to enjoying the city more when I come in to really, truly see my friends.
My good friend Laura, the World Traveler, likes to say, “How can you miss me when I’m never away?” I think it takes going away and creating some distance to gain more perspective. Step away and see what happens.
No I do not see you Melanie, but I do hear you! Hopefully you will keep your blog going while you are enjoying the country that way I will not miss you. Congrats on the move.
No plans to stop working, writing, blogging, etc. We are still business as usual. Just no longer paying NYC rent and taxes. Warm regards, Melanie