Thanks NY!

Well NY, what can I say? It's starting to get cold and dark and I didn't bring anything warmer than my windbreaker–so I'm thinking that I should start heading home. (I told my mom I’d be back before Thanksgiving.) It's been really nice meeting you.

They don't have a subway system like yours where I am from. Which makes me a little sad. So thanks for the MTA. And the red line especially. Thanks for Washington Square’s fountain and Union Square’s farmers' market. I’ve reconsidered the square and appreciate its possibilities now more than ever. Thanks for Fairway–I will never think of another grocery store as disorganized ever again. Thanks for the watery time and open sky at Riverbank and Brooklyn Bridge Parks. And all your beautiful bridges. Thanks for Delicioso Coco Helado. Thanks for the flea market that Saturday morning in Clinton Park and making the Staten Island Ferry free–though the advertising in that terminal is sort of a high price to pay. Thanks for July’s fireflies and your complicated Septembers. And thank you for all the brave and creative people I’ve had the pleasure to meet. Even if it was just for a moment or a few hours or through something they left behind for me to find. Please help them to prosper so they might bring their gifts to SF sometime.

Yeah–I'll be in SF. Another seductive well-loved world-class town, but with less bricks and more electric buses. A little younger and somewhat curvier than you and not quite so tall, SF had my heart before I ever had a chance to consider otherwise. Still, I’m going to miss you NY–but I plan to return to SF with the ambitious new insight you’ve offered me. That's a great gift. So thank you for that.

Speaking of great gifts–thanks especially for Eric. He says he's ready to go, so I'm bringing him west with me. I know you'll miss him, but I promise to take good care of him and I'm sure we'll be back before you know it.