They renovated Gristede’s. Bitches redid the grocery store.

I am presently confronted with glaring reminders that, hard as I try, I can’t make New York the bad guy forever. Carrie Bradshaw compared living in this city to being caught in a dysfunctional relationship: one day it lifts you up to heights you’d ever dreamed of; the next day it hurls you to the ground and stomps on your remains.  Turns out that leaving the city is much like getting out of that dysfunctional relationship.  The hard part isn’t just walking away, it’s finding the balance of appreciating the city for what is was in your life while taking care not to forget why you left.  The time has come for me to be a big girl and face the good part, even though it will make leaving more painful.

First of all, the smells.  They usually fall in the BAD category, but it figures that the week before I leave, the city would open up and begin to smell like a fresh flower. Usually this time of year, the heat and humidity envelop everything on the streets–garbage, piss, poop–and send it all wafting straight into my nose.  I gag and remember how disgusting city-dwelling can be.  But today, all I could smell were blooms and fresh-cut grass.  Damn you, New York.  Then I hit Gristede’s on 29th and 2nd and, rather than the usual wet-dog smell that greets me upon entry, the aroma of freshly baking bread welcomed me inside.  In the couple of weeks since I’ve roamed them, the aisles were glowing and shiny and the old scummy plastic shelves were replaced with polished wood.

Last night, the BF and I went with another couple to see Phantom of the Opera.  I remember when I first moved here and The Sis came to visit and we caught the show, so it comes packaged with good memories.  And this time, even with the melodrama and constant flow of cheese, it did not disappoint.  The songs are stuck in my head today.  Afterward, we walked home from a Times Square overflowing with people whose presence gave the finger to idiot terrorists bent on destruction.  This is the New York I will miss.

Then I woke up this morning and walked across 3rd avenue just as a street-sweeping truck sprayed a coating of urine and trash into the air and straight into my nose.  I gagged and remembered how disgusting city-dwelling can be.