As I eat my bite sized baked potato, I flashback to my time above The Bagel Shop, on the corner of 76th and York. Our apartment was so little (like my potato), but the smell of curry in the hallway quickly became the scent associated with home. I saw it as the new and improved vanilla candle-all encompassing. I remember, distinctively, standing in the bathtub one night with my ear pressed against the wall, curious to hear the song our neighbor was fine tuning. I kept thinking to myself that He must be sitting there in his tiny box of an abode, on an empty floor, staring at naked walls, because all he could afford (but not for long) was a bed roll and raman noodles. Over and over again, came the same refrain, each time introduced, more and more passionately, with a drum solo. I felt an exhilaration (that only a girl listening through a wall could feel) for him. Cheering him on, I went to my lap top and wrote a recap of the day. Though I never saw His face--for he was a phantom like soul--I knew that He did not care for anything more than the bed roll and noodles, because he had his music to keep him alive. He was trying to make it. He loved what he did.

As I remember the boy next door, I think about my own experience. It has been five years, and I still burn for those streets. It occurred to me that all I did was work. I never visited a museum, never saw the top of the Empire State Building, never visited the Twin Towers or Wall Street, not even Times Square. I woke up at 6am, caught the bus, worked until 5pm, grabbed a Kosher dinner, took a walk, watched the news and went to bed. Every day my routine was, for the most part, steady but unpredictable; And I loved every second. I was never miserable, lonely, bored, or with regret. I was doing what I loved to do and needed nothing else. This makes me think that there is only good to come. When you can go to work every day and leave with a smile and sense of accomplishment, what more could you ask for? I hope you all find whatever it is you are looking for; And when you find it, I hope you never lose it.