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It was just like an MGM musical and about as as realistic. For some unknown but so welcome and magical reason, NYC became the city I had only dreamed of, a mystical place where anything could happen and gosh darn it to heck, it sure felt like it did. That summer I was Gene Kelly, but I probably came off more like Jules Munshin.
I've had a special affinity for this magnificent bastard of a city probably since the day I was born. It always held a mystic quality for me, a faraway magic land where anything and everything is possible unless it decides to kick your scrawny ass to the curb like it almost did back in 1975. It scared the holy crap out of me, but I got by on my naivete' and youthful hubris somehow, some way. Perhaps that all rose to the surface again in 2011, a fountain of youth I desperately needed.
Being there just before the 10th anniversary of 9/11 proved to be more important than I realized at the time. When those planes hit the World Trade Center and brought NYC to its knees, I was rooting for it to get right back up before the count of ten and stand on its two feet again, which it did, the big lug.
What really got into my bone marrow on this trip was Brooklyn. I hadn't felt a sense of belonging to a place since San Francisco back in the 70s. Perhaps I lived there in a previous life and my ancestors were calling to me. All I know is that I've always wanted to return, but here I am in 2021 and it ain't happened yet.
It's probably for the better. My rose-colored view of New York and all its magnificence would be probably be shattered as soon as reality set in and I wouldn't have the safety net of returning to Portland, Oregon, a place with its own set of troubles, not the least of which that it is turning into New York in the 1970s. And with this bloody pandemic still upon us, nowhere looks very inviting these days.
But I have these great memories and am grateful for each every one of them. New York showed me a good time and will remain as a holy spot on earth as far as I'm concerned. I will be eternally grateful to my daughter Lindsay and son-in-law Chris who sponsored this amazing Cherney Journey, giving the world their beautiful and talented daughter Aefa and along the way, their new force of nature, Aefa's sister Athena. Howe I feel about New York actually pales in comparison to the love I have for this family I have been blessed to have been a part, the gift that keeps on giving.
Below are links to my blog posts from 2011, the grand adventure that was and always will be for me in the kingdom known as New York, New York.
STRAIGHT INTA BROOKLYNHELLO, MY CONEY ISLAND BABY
SEND IN THE DANCING MORMONS
GOOD NIGHT, HURRICANE IRENE
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