I &hearts Central Park

I love NYC. I love being able to walk out my door and have endless restaurants to choose from. I love not needing a car, being able to spend an entire day walking and never running out of streets to turn onto or neighborhoods to explore. Moving here at the age of 22 was the best decision I ever made. I met people here who have become my closest, dearest friends. I met Will here. And I will always be able to say I started my family here, making Nathan the only true New Yorker in our “cozy” 1 bedroom Chenivan household. Living here is a one of a kind experience that makes the TINY apartments and insanely EXPENSIVE rent worth it.

But I grew up in a house with lots of rooms, perfect for playing hide and seek. A finished basement that my brother and sisters and I spent hours playing in. A dining room where we celebrated Christmases and birthdays. Perhaps my favorite part of my parents’ house, a screened in porch perfect for sitting out at night listening to thunderstorms, or mornings, reading the paper in my pajamas, drinking iced coffee. And now that little Nathan has joined us, I have never missed having a backyard more.

But so long as we stay here in New York, I am grateful for Central Park. While you can’t walk down a New York sidewalk without bumping into one person after another, you can always find peace in Central Park, nestled under a secluded tree, and feel like the only person around amidst a city of millions. In the short time Nathan has been with us, we’ve already shared so many wonderful moments here. It’s where we took him on his first walk in his stroller. It’s where I first ventured out on my own with Nathan and met my friend Sarah and her daughter Logan and spent a spring afternoon in the warm sunshine. And it’s where I spent my birthday, having a picnic with my two favorite boys on a beautiful summer night.

Today was day 4 of an unbearable heat wave here in New York and yet as soon as we entered the park tonight, the air felt cooler and the pace felt slower. We sat comfortably on a shaded bench watching a kickball game. While I listened to Nathan breathe softly against Will’s chest, asleep in his Bjorn carrier, I imagined when he gets a little older and bringing him to the Central Park Zoo or taking him to the remote control boat pond or one of the many playgrounds within the park.

Although I know we'll have our own backyard someday, for now I’m content with the 843 acre backyard all of us New Yorkers get to enjoy everyday.