snow day

Today I, and the rest of Manhattan, woke up to snow falling outside our windows. I pulled back the $5 paper blinds hanging on my bedroom window and there it was. The weather man finally got it right. This is my first snowfall as a resident of NYC in many years. The few other times it snowed this year I was either not in the city at the time or it wasn't enough snow to really get excited.

I live right on the corner of Riverside park. I'm steps away from a long, paver stone walkway that parallels the park all the way up to Grant's Tomb. It is, in my opinion, one of the most lovely, peaceful places in the city. It's high above the West Side Highway with easy access to Riverside Park below and is never very busy. And as you walk north the drop down to riverside park gets higher & higher and the view cooler and cooler. You'd never think this was in Manhattan.

I bundled up and hit the road to see the snow up close. It's 8am and, with the few snow plow exceptions, there are no cars to be seen. A few brave people were out jogging on the snow covered path. A few people, like me, were out just to see the snow. But the vast majority were the dog owners. They were out in full force letting their dogs run free in the snow. Now I don't have kids and don't have the pleasure of seeing their happy faces while playing in the snow... but I have lived with dogs before and, at least, have had the pleasure of seeing their happy faces.

When I was home at Christmas, there was snow on the ground. My family took Molly, my sister's dog, for a off-leash romp in the church graveyard (We were visiting Nani & Harry at the time. And, I promise, Molly's day in the snow would have made Nani very happy). Molly ran like a crazy dog. She was so happy loving the cold freedom that it put a smile on all of our faces. Today, I watched many dogs run around with that same excitement. I watched from the Riverside path, looking down at Riverside park, with snow falling and it put a smile on my face.

It's funny, I left the building with my earphones on and a "happy" playlist chosen. Within 3 minutes the music was off. Something about the music was taking away from the serenity of the morning. I wanted to hear the crunch of my shoes in the snow. And hear the quiet of the snowfall. When I lived in Astoria, one of my favorite times of the day was my walk to the subway. The city was waking up. The stores were opening. The day was quiet. People were starting a new, fresh day. It had a similar serenity to this morning's visit to Riverside Park.

When I was in college, I was on the crew team. This still remains one of my favorite accomplishments. The team would get up early... very early... and drive to the water. Most days, at this hour, the water was smooth like glass. And those moments before the work out really began, when we were on the water, warming up, waking up... there was maybe 10 minutes - peaceful, chilly, quiet moments where you just watch the world wake up.

I've always been fond of these types of moments.