Picture Book Life

I remember as a kid reading those picture books where the action takes place in a large metropolis. There is the postman and the spotted yappy dog and the girl with the ribboned hat holding a balloon and grand library/museum and the statue of some war hero and a park and some tall buildings. THIS is the city of my picturebook and I live in it.

All this came into my head as I walked to work this morning. I walked out of my brownstone and made a left by the Museum of Natural History (v. picture book-worthy) towards Central Park. As I turned the corner towards the park, it was if an orchestra conductor just got out of bed and cued the dog walkers section of the pit. They were all various shapes and sizes and breeds - owners and pets alike. The first chair of the baby stroller pusher park parents alighted upon cue and was followed in allegro fashion by a whole army of them. Bundled bootied babies and fathers mostly. Nothing like a baby or a dog as a chick magnet. And God bless the light-footed joggers in the timpani section. Adding that syncopation to the soup.

As I passed by the burning torches of The Dakota, home of Yoko, I looked up at the windows of all the fancy apartment buildings on Central Park West and wondered if I would ever live in one. Wow, they must be so amazing. Who lives there? Another 100,000 stories by the bar. When I saw a person younger than myself walk out of one past the top-hatted doorman I wondered if they lived there or were just doing the walk of shame. Terrible thoughts to protect my own ego. Hopefully to be drowned out by the majestic swell of the sun coming through the trees.

Upon arriving at the shores of Columbus Circle I was entering the business world of office buildings and coffee carts and commuters. Gone was the idyllic, relatively rural life of the upper west side. I was in serious mode now. Walking down Broadway, past the Ed Sullivan Theatre where David Letterman resides. Hello Deli just around the corner. Times Square arose in a crescendo of lights and taxis and general bustle. My building lay before me. My ID card at the ready and the end of the first movement of the day.