I remember getting dropped on a curb in Brooklyn and being overwhelmed. But I looked over and saw the skyscrapers and the city of dreams and knew it was the start of a giant adventure that I couldn’t back down from. My driver came in a Prius and off we went. Along the way into Manhattan he told me about his venture from Russia to the US and having kids. He told me where he was 9/11 and his daughter was on a plane and he was just blocks from the World Trade Center. He still gets emotional thinking about it. After he dropped me at 48th & 7th I was completely lost. I must have spent half an hour trying to figure out which direction to go. I walked those two blocks a hundred times. And passed the hotel up at least twice. Carting around giant luggage. I had been up about 30 hours at this point I think. It was 2-3pm.

I got up to my room with all intention to nap. But I opened the blinds and there it was. Endless possibility stared at me from every building and the beautiful May day around me. I brushed my teeth, changed my underoos, & went to just get a piece of pizza from the place next to the hotel. But I walked past it. There was another spot around the corner. And then I turned and saw Times Square ahead. I walked as fast as any New Yorker that day. There was more in those four blocks around the hotel than in Sherman and the Coast combined. But I loved watching the people most of all. They all had a story. I could feel the energy of them all around me. They were part of my biggest dream and happiest day even though it was just another day for most of them.

That day I had hope. And nothing was impossible. I loved life. I felt the universal pulse and knew I had purpose. I walked blisters on my feet and then kept going. I went inside a two story CVS for blister band aids and slapped them on and still kept going.

On that particular day I was doing the world good, my friendships were in tact, my bank account was fat, I was proud to be me, my hair wasn’t thinning, and I didn’t really care that I was fat. I want to bottle that feeling and sip from the flask every damn day. I want to not give a damn about the blisters on my feet and just keep moving. I want the feeling that God is carrying me; it was effortless to feel awesome. Adventure was at every corner. The world was loving me back that day I hit NYC. I wish I could feel that way again and then pass it on to everyone else.