Happy Anniversary…to me

Six years ago today, I boarded a JetBlue plane from LAX with a one way ticket and two large suitcases. I was off to make a life in New York City. All but one person in the months preceding tried to convince me not to come here.

You see, NY was still recovering from the WTC events and the economy was in the tank. The US had started bombing Iraq the month before, on the day I bought my one-way ticket. I had no job lined up. I had some savings, a shared sublet in Crown Heights and some impossible feeling that it was going to be OK despite it all.

Six years later, we are still in Iraq and the economy is even worse (though we did enjoy those years of over-indulgence). But during my six years, Bloomberg revitalized New York and made it prosperous. We were moving forward and I along with it. I landed that coveted job at MTV even though I had no inside connection. Pure luck…or fate. I survived. I made a career for myself in television. I moved around, left Crown Heights for Chelsea. Moved back to Brooklyn (Park Slope) and am now happily living alone in Cobble Hill, working as a freelancer. The New York dream…to live in a nice neighborhood sans roommate.

“If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere.”

Did I “make it?” I at least have survived. I know I’m not going anywhere for a long time. I’ve seen a bad economy before. We turned out fine. This time around, we at least have a HOPEfully great leader at the helm of this ship.

Here’s to six beautiful years in the greatest city in the world…and looking forward to the next sixty in it.