This Is My Love Letter To You, New York City

I’d like to start out with an apology. I’m sorry for abandoning you. I’m sorry for taking off when things got bad. I’m sorry for losing trust that you’d keep me safe.

I feel like I’m really seeing you for the very first time.

New York City, you are freedom. You are my adventure, independence, and that feeling that at any moment anything can happen. You are my playground.

While this virus has torn this country apart, it has also brought us closer together. It means something to be a New Yorker. It means something to be a neighbor. Each time we let someone into our pods, we are subconsciously agreeing that we are willing to risk our lives to spend time together.

Now that I’m back, I never want to leave you again. I need to ride this high forever. I crave you more than any drug. I’d give them all up to live in New York City, because you make me feel so fucking alive.

Sometimes I think you are the reason I’m single. Not because there aren’t men here, but some of us completely fall in love with you. The love I feel for you, Mrs. New York, is so intense, so powerful, so all-consuming I don’t possibly have room for someone else.

Don’t get me wrong, you’ve helped me fall in love hundreds of times. There’s nothing like locking eyes with someone across the bar and knowing they’re the one.

The one you’ll stay up all night talking to. Sometimes we have absolutely nothing in common, but we both love you. We love the night you’ve offered us.

The next day we part ways and don’t look back. We smile knowing no matter what, we get to go home to you.

My love for you isn’t always so pure. You’ve hurt me and betrayed me. My friends and family have gotten sick, and some people blame you.

My parents didn’t want me to come back to you. They said if I didn’t leave the suburbs, I’d be safe. They were afraid of what would happen if I followed my heart back to you.

What they don’t understand is the love I have for you is so strong that nothing could keep me away. I feel a gravitational pull every time I leave.

No matter what happens, I’m never leaving you again.

Even though I’m quarantining tonight, I feel your energy. From my room, I hear people laughing and a trumpet playing a full concert late into the evening.

I feel your power and I feel your comfort.

I loved you before and I love you now more than ever.

Trust me, New York City is anything but dead.