Ode to the Upper East Side

Dearest Upper East Side,

You have been my home for the past 4 years. The sounds of 2nd and 3rd avenues have lulled me to sleep every night. Wasabi Lobby and Poke and Cilantro and Ship of Fools and Sotto Cinque and Uptown and Beyoglu, whatever will I do without you? You have been my UES go-to places for 4 incredible years. And oh, 86th street 4,5,6 express subway stop. We have had quite the love / hate relationship...mostly love, peppered with hate whenever the trains just. aren't. running.

As I leave you now, and head across town to new and unfamiliar UWS territory, I can't help but feel slightly sad. Like I'm somehow abandoning you. Remember when Jamie lived right around the corner for 2 years? Remember when Seaver proposed to Julia right there on our old 83rd street stoop? Remember how many nights we spent at Mad River? And late night pizza stops at Fat Sal's? Remember all the movies I've seen / sneaked into at Orpheum 7 theater? Remember the 2-story 82nd street Starbucks where our very first Bible study met and turned into a NYC family? Remember how you somehow had a way of making my New York feel so very small? Just because all my friends lived so close?

You were good to me UES. Yes, you were one of the very first places in NYC where I felt comfortable. So please remember, as I leave you now with all these memories of my first 4 years in this amazing city, that you, UES, were one of my first New York loves. And let me tell you something. That's nothing to take lightly. First loves are always the hardest to get over.

Gratefully Yours,
Lauren