Farewell Manhattan

Dear Manhattan,

I'm sitting here at the 8th Ave L stop waiting for it to leave for Brooklyn and it dawned on me...This is my last moment with you.  From that day we first flirted in Central Park five years ago to this last walk from Chelsea Market, I've fallen in love with you.  

You've taught me so much in these four years.  How to laugh, cry, love, work and dance a little harder.

• We bingo'd in Meat Packing on Sundays and worked our asses off in Chelsea on Mondays. 
• We blacked out with the bartenders of the LES and flirted with the mixologists of the East Village. 
• We screamed at sports in West Village and stared in shop windows in Soho at things we'd never afford.
• We spent rainy days with art in the UES and lovely brunches in UWS or met in the middle for a Sheeps Meadow respite. 
• We floated on boat bars in FiDi and sipped soup dumplings in Chinatown. 
• We even grabbed our passports and snuck off to warehouse parties in Williamsburg, St Pattys Day in Hoboken and ramen burger dinners in DUMBO.

You accepted me and all my weirdness and made me a New Yorker.

Your hallowed avenues and streets have kicked my ass a couple times but we've always made up and our relationship is the stronger for it.  You've introduced me to new friends who I will hold dear for the rest of my life and helped me realize many unreasonable pacts of reconnection with old ones.  I think all us transients would agree... You're pretty fucking awesome.

We'll be spending some time apart in the near future but I know it won't be forever.  You'll never fully wean me off of you...because you're the only place I've ever called "home."

Please look after my friends. Be their glue while I'm gone.  Make sure they take good care of each other and cherish every minute they have with each other and with you.

I see today that we are crying together. I can feel your teardrops on my umbrella.  But don't worry we will be together again someday. Promise.

Until then.