I love New York the most when it's 7:00-7:30 in the morning. No matter what the season, you wake up feeling it will be like any other day, but as soon as you pull yourself out of bed, open the blinds, and get hit with a beautiful golden warmth of sunshine, you know it's different. Yesterday morning I went into our living room and it was like I was tackled with this big sunshine hug from God. The pure golden color of this light cannot be adequately described in my opinion. I probably sat there for a good ten minutes soaking up the radiance of God's majesty with a huge sleepy smile on my face.
Outside, it's almost like the streets have been untouched. You feel like you've stumbled onto a new place, undiscovered, and all your own. Even in Midtown there's so few people up and about so early in the morning that you could practically go running down 34th spinning, and dancing, without needing to even remotely worry about colliding with other pedestrians. For those of you that have ever walked down Midtown New York on 34th, say around 1:00pm, you know that it can get pretty crowded. In fact, during the majority of the day 34th is absolutely crammed with tourists, business people, students, and more.
At 7:30 in the morning, 34th is calm and seems strangely simple.
The streets are somehow always wet in the early morning. People tend to walk a little slower and taxis seem to honk less as if they didn't want to wake anyone. Even the whissshhh of the cars going down the street seems to be hushed.
The air is paper thin and the sun feels as sweet as a child throwing their arms around your neck unexpectedly for a hug.
But wait even thirty minutes and you miss it.
I don't know what happens or how it manages to change so drastically so quickly but it's like receiving a random and unexpected blessing from a friend. Like when someone brings you flowers just because they know you had a hard day, or if someone takes the time to write you a letter just because they wanted to, or when someone stops you right in the middle of the hallway to give you a really solid hug. The city seems to embrace you, showing you that it isn't insensitive like some might believe. And then just like that you move on. Your day continues and you join the rush of people. However things aren't the same. The city seems less threatening and more like some type of home.
Psalm 23
