A Very New York Moment.

I write this just an hour after this moment occurred.

For a little background… These past few days have been a collection of frustrations adding up. Little inconveniences that I would normally shake off were deemed the biggest disturbances. One example is from yesterday. The banker at Citibank told me she couldn’t give me 5 dollars in quarters in exchange for my 5 dollar bill. She saw my big, green eyes get wet as I started to weep even though there was a Capitol One less than a block away. Then today, I got locked inside a bathroom for 30 minutes. The lock was so jammed that someone had to unscrew the lock and remove it in order for me to get out. My breaking point was on the C train. I was so hungry and so thrilled to be getting home to the veggie burger I had waiting for me in the fridge. Little did I know that the train was running express. I saw my stop come and go. I slowly start to lose it on the subway. I get off at the next stop which was 40 blocks away from my apartment. Soon I discover that the train that would take me to my stop was 25 minutes away.

This was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I start to cry as I walked up the subway stairs entering the bright daylight and chaos of the street. At this point, it’s very apparent that I am indeed sobbing. Streams of tears and vocal cries (very dramatic.) I find a nook at the corner of a block to let it all out.

And here comes the reason I love New York City.

As I’m crying and crying (and crying) I see a woman start to approach me. She’s wearing a head scarf and loose fitting clothes. Naturally, I assume she’s going to ask if I’m okay. I start to prep in my head the type of speech I’m going to tell her. She comes to my right side and looks me in the eyes. In her smooth tone, she says to me, “Do you have a cigarette, baby?”

Let me tell you, though I was very emotionally distraught, I could still acknowledge how funny the scene that just unfolded was.

I don’t quite have an ending to this story. I just thought it was really funny and I needed to share it. If anything, it was a reminder of how much I love New York and its people.

PS: Everything is okay now— I’ve had my veggie burger and dusted myself off and am carrying on. We all need a good cry every now and then. As we all know as humans, there are some days where things seem a bit bigger than they are.