Thanks for the early mornings and the late nights, the crowded streets, the taxis honking, the aggressive walking, the crazy people, the rude people, the umbrellas, the smell of trash in the summer, the subway and its code, Hop Stop, long walks, city blocks, a gridded street system, food stands and food trucks, fifteen dollar cocktails, one dollar beers, rooftops of any kind, the East River, the Hudson River, being an island, even though you don't seem like it, Uber, LaGuardia, the annoying TVs in the bad of cabs, but being able to pay with a credit card no matter what, bar tab minimums, lines, lines, and more lines, your museums, especially MoMA, your cupcakes, especially Baked by Melissa and Magnolia, your stores, Fifth Ave, Park Ave, Madison Ave, SoHo, LES, East Village, West Village, Meatpacking, people skinnier, prettier, and better dressed and people fatter, uglier, and more poorly dressed, uptown, downtown, people who will give you directions, people that don't speak English, Google Maps, cronuts, Pret, Guy & Gallard, your parks, Central Park, Bryant Park, the East River Park, the Shake Shack, Katz's, bagels and coffee, the lights at night, the packed streets at 3 am, Broadway shows, 7th Ave, famous people and regular people and people all just trying to make it, sunrises and sunsets, more rooftops, getting losts, nights out until 5 am, concerts in parks, baseball games, seeming like a real New Yorker, the difficulty of doing anything, getting groceries, shipping a box, going to BB&B, not having a Target, but having Union Market aka the best thing ever, drinking on boats and in parks and on rooftops - yours or someone else's - and even in hot tubs, and for all of the hustle and bustle and grit and magic that make up this city.
So just like dear Frankie said,
here's to you, New York, New York!
