With the East Coast. After spending two straight weeks back there and a total of nearly three weeks this summer in East Coast cities, I am aware that something new is in my blood. I love the subways, the varied people, the ballparks, the museums, the restaurants, and most of all, the rich history back East. I've fallen in love.
Not that I have lost my love of the West. Not that I had never spent time in cities or back East before. Not that I always appreciate the hurried pace of life in the big cities. Not that I'll ever move back there.
Instead, I just felt like I matured as an American by steeping myself in historical sites and iconic East Coast culture. I have an even greater attachment to our great country now and a greater appreciation of how our country began. I hope.
I also know how to navigate subway systems and feel my way around a city like the best of them. (Yet, I still do have a tendency to somtimes over-think navigation or throw it out the window and wander). I know how to blend in a bit more....though my conspicuous camera and eager-beaver tourist face is nearly impossible to hide. I know how to be a good New Yorker and disregard signs when a more common sense approach is available. No need to wait for the crosswalk sign to change to the chipper white walking guy. No, as a fake New Yorker, I know how to burst onto the street as soon as a Taxi is not 30 feet near me and push my way across the street to the tune of honks and squeels. Take that, red stop-signal hand!!
So, here I am back in Colorado Springs. While my being is taking a sigh of relief in many ways, I am like a lover longing already to go back to her beloved. Okay, that's a bit ridiculuos, but it does tell you that I loved my East Coast trip, does it not?
I hope our long-distance relationship works out well.
