In the a recent New York Magazine celebrities and journalists reflect on their early New York City experiences. Their stories hold both pain and joy that uniquely marks a New Yorker. Do I pretend to be a New Yorker? No. But I am thankful for the 10 months that we have lived here and have been deeply marked by this place and its people. Over the next month (that's right, I said month) I will be saying thank you to this city, its ethos and the people that create it. It will probably read a lot like a Ryan Adams album. I do not post these thoughts for some kind of public diary but to invite you to reflect on who/what/where had influenced you and your life. Because after all, we don't learn from experience, we learn from reflecting on our experiences.
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Taryn applied at two graduate schools. Columbia and the University of Washington. I had assumed that she would get into both and that we would have a decision to make.

Seeing as we lived in Seattle at the time (where I was going to graduate school), I thought perhaps we would stay. But I will never forget that day she received the acceptance letter. It was an overcast Friday afternoon (SHOCKER!) and I was in the middle of a conference. She called me screaming that she had gotten accepted. I screamed with her for a few and told her that we would continue our celebrating later that night with some champagne and a discussion about whether or not we would head to NY. That night, I got home, opened the bottle of champagne, and I asked, "so what are you thinking?" She replied, "well, I need you to transfer $400 into my checking account because I already sent Columbia my deposit."

I had no idea that I would be toasting our move to NY that night. I was shocked, but I was not upset at all. I agreed. We should go.

That night we finished off the bottle of champagne and began dreaming of a life in the midst of yellow cabs and world class restaurants. We had no idea what we were in for.