One of my favorite lines from Woody Allen’s Manhattan is: “He adored New York City. He idolized it all out of proportion.” As I come up on nine years of living here this winter, I felt like I could use a reminder of why I moved in the first place. (Seriously, the sweltering F train in the summer is enough to make you question that decision over and over again.)
That’s when Matt came across tickets to watch the classic film Manhattan at Lincoln Center with the New York Philharmonic performing the score right in front of the big screen. We snagged a pair of orchestra seats and decided to make a New York day out of it. Renting rowboats in Central Park at the Loeb Boathouse was something we had done on one of our early dates when I still lived on the Upper East Side, so I thought it would be fun to repeat the experience from when we first met.
We waited in line about 30 minutes, then were handed a couple of paddles and took off past the Bethesda Fountain. Once we cleared the Bow Bridge, the lake was tourist-free and so serene and calm. We paddled to the center and just drifted around for the duration of our rental and talked and took turns rowing and, OK, Snapchatted a bit, too.
Here’s the truth: Almost nine years in, I don’t always adore New York City—in particular, the toll it takes on your body just to accomplish all the little things in life like buying groceries or commuting to work—but I do think, for the most part, I idolize it just right. Because when you’re in a teeny tiny rowboat staring up at all those iconic landmarks around you that just happen to be the backdrop of your life, it’s hard not to believe in the breathtaking possibility it all holds.
And if you can pipe in Rhapsody in Blue on Spotify while you’re wandering around, all the better.
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