Confession: I've worked in NYC for almost 13 years (egads) and I still manage to get lost in lower Manhattan. For serious, take me off the grid and I literally have to load up the GPS on my phone to help figure out where I am. While walking. That's probably because up until this summer, when my office moved downtown, I'd rarely have to find myself down that way.
Yet, back in the day, all I needed to do was look up, find the World Trade Center, and figure myself out. Those two buildings were like beacons when I'd get lost down there - just gaze skyward, find them, and know which way was south and north, like a giant compass of sorts. Obviously, this has hardly been the case the last ten years. Until this evening.
But let me back up and talk a little about the new 1 World Trade Center. When my office moved down to the Financial District in July, I was glad in that it was getting me out of midtown for the first time in all my years working in NYC. A change of scenery (with A LOT less tourists), if you will. The PATH train comes in under the World Trade construction site, so since then, I've been seeing first-hand all the re-building that goes on down there. It wasn't till about a week into the move that I figured out the building going up almost directly over the station was the new 1 World Trade Center - I'd caught glimpses of it from across the river as it slowly rose, but being right under it was eye-opening. Seriously, when you stand under that thing, you get a total appreciation for its gargantuan height, something you really can't get even from a few blocks away. You just kind of stare up at it all, "Okay, you win. I'm never going to be as tall as you."
Anyway, you know how
I started talking to the Empire State Building post-9/11? Well, I started doing it with this guy too, because I want to be neighborly. Whenever I go into the PATH station to make my way home, I offer it my salutations (in my head - not out loud. I don't need my ass dragged to Bellevue or anything), like "Hey there, friend!" Sometimes I'm like, "You will NOT believe the day I had. Hope yours was better." I wished it a happy new year when I was coming home in the early hours of Jan. 1. And I'm pretty sure we're both psyched the Giants are in the Super Bowl.
So what does this have to do with getting lost like an idiot in the Financial District? Well, this evening, I decided to walk to the PATH, instead of take the subway. I've pretty much avoided this the last few months since I TWICE ended up walking in circles (and, really, who wants to end up back at their office?), but tonight I figured I could swing by the local Gristedes and then head home without incident. I kind of thought I was going the right way up Maiden Lane, but I had this nagging doubt that comes with being burned before by lack of a street grid.
But then it happened. I looked up and there it was, juuuust peeping up over the tops of the other tall buildings in the neighborhood: 1World Trade Center. For the first time in 10 years, I knew I was walking in the right direction.
"Thanks, new friend," I said. "Nice to see you, too."
