They Leave Yet I Remain

I remain while people come and people go.  It is strange to think that I was in NYC when Amy arrived and I am still here as she leaves.  It doesn't seem as though I have been here that long.  

Time in New York passes differently.  Take time to smell the flowers is a phrase foreign to New Yorkers.  There is no time.  There are no flowers.  There is always something pressing, engaging, demanding.  When I return home, when I have a free weekend out of the city, I have time to think about all that has happened in my life, but when I'm in NYC all I can do is race through everything, jumping from activity to activity without a chance to breathe.  So when I think I've been here for over a year, nearly a year and a half, I feel as though I've been plunged into icy cold water, shocked and speechless.  

If I stay in New York I will be 30 before I know it.