Resurrecting the "New York Project"

When I was diagnosed three years ago with Erdheim-Chester Disease, my then-husband asked me to think about my bucket list. What would I want to do, see, experience, taste, feel, or own before it would become too late?

The first thing on my list was easy and it never felt like it actually needed to be written down. I’ll let you figure that one out, let’s just say that my family situation couldn’t be further from what I’d envisioned or had been promised would be there for me unconditionally when I was first told that I was facing a daunting future. 

The first  (and only!) “official” thing on my bucket list was a trip to New York City. I’d been privileged to travel a fair amount in my twenties – visiting wonderful cities around the world but somehow never made it to the Big Apple. To be clear I had been in NYC airspace many times in my frequent commute to a second office in Princeton, New Jersey in the mid 90’s – always hoping for clear weather for a good view of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty as the plane made its descent into Newark Airport.

When I imagined visiting the city on my first and likely only trip, I saw myself enraptured by all that my senses could take in. We’d be trying new flavours offered up by street food vendors, I’d be walking through Central Park hand in hand with my sweetheart, visiting the MOMA trying to understand what the artist was trying to convey as we viewed some abstract piece of work, checking out the creativity of the High Line Park ... the list goes on. As I planned my trip it became apparent I’d have to trim down my list of “want-to-do”s – a week wouldn’t be nearly enough!

And by some miracle, my leg pain would subside just enough to do the walking that would be required to really experience New York. A girl can wish, can’t she? And of course I’d have my camera around my neck the entire time – except for the times that it would be raised to my eye to capture what I would interpret as the essence of the city. The people, the architecture, the sights (the sounds and smells however would have to be committed to memory rather than a digital file!)

The trip never happened. The risk of going across the border without medical insurance was too high, and even walking half a city block was now out of the question. When we realized about a year and a half ago that this trip wasn’t going to happen, my then-husband made a lovely suggestion. Why not go to New York virtually? He immediately went to work contacting friends and family asking them to share their experiences, and a few did before our marriage suddenly took a very different direction and my bucket list had no importance to me at all anymore.

I recognize that I still very much want to go, but it’s truly not an option. A dear friend took me on a virtual trip to NYC last November, it’s a gift that I’ll treasure always. If you’re visiting me, I’d be happy to share the experience with you – it was a gift put together with forethought, ingenuity, a bit of gumption and most of all lots of love.

And now I reach out to all of you to help me fill “my week” in New York City. If you’ve had the opportunity to visit, live or dream of going there yourself, I’d be most grateful if you’d share your experiences (or anticipated ones if you, like me, would love the chance to see it for yourself but haven’t). Please share your funny stories about a wild cab ride, a fantastic meal, a sight you’ll never forget, a description of a New Yorker who was imprinted in your memory. Please share photos, quotes, tales of adventure (or misadventure!). Even if it’s just a quick sentence – or more if you’ve got a great story to share, I’d be honoured if you’d send me your version of what New York is to you. With Google Streetview, I love looking up the locations that are mentioned to me so please include street addresses, it certainly enhances the experience!

With that, I thank you in advance for your contributions – and thanks to those of you who had contributed when this project had been initiated last year. It’s time for me to pick it up again on my own now. I’m including a link to a blog post written just after I was diagnosed including images by a wonderful photographer named Aris Wells, who at that time gave me her permission to post images that she had taken and I’m taking liberties in sharing them again.  http://withoutamanual.blogspot.ca/2009/08/my-bucket-list-and-new-friends.html

To share your New York moments please email me at sessa1@live.ca, or if you’re comfortable sharing with my blog readers, by all means post as a comment to this post (you can include your name or contribute anonymously). Let me know if snail mail works better for you, I don’t have a home yet but do have a post office box address.

It’s not the same as being in New York, but it feels like with your help it could get very close.