After nearly 18 and a half years in Boston, I have bid the Hub farewell and New York is my new home.
The events which have led me to the Big Apple began in July 2017 when I abruptly lost my job as a federal contractor working with HHS as a paralegal. Seeking a new opportunity as a paralegal I spent 8 months looking for work. In all, I applied for 435 jobs and had 33 job interviews before ending up back to my old line of work as a Records Clerk at a law firm on behalf of yet another contractor.
The work wasn't bad at all. I had my own space and mostly left alone. My boss and I had a very good rapport with baseball being our common language. Unfortunately, my housing situation did not go as planned. My roommate of nearly a decade decided to move to Providence. I spent much of the summer trying to find a successor. More than a dozen people looked the apartment. There was a couple who were interested, but then wavered. Then came an older gentleman who was eager to move in and then 24 hours later told me he could not make a commitment.
By this stage, I did not think I was going to find a new roommate. And even if I had I was at the mercy of a complete stranger or strangers. When Christopher and I joined forces we had already known each other for more than six years. Such a luxury would be unavailable to me this time around.
There was also the reality of the Boston housing market. When we moved into our two bedroom apartment in 2008 the rent was $1150. It is now $1875. A bulk of that increase has come in the past five years. Within a year or two, I would have been priced out of the market.
I also saw that the company was advertising a similar position in New York. So I called my boss to see if the position was available and arrangements were made. I start my new position at a law firm in the Chrysler Building on October 1st.
That gave me all of three weeks to clear out an apartment I have lived in longer continuously than I have lived anywhere else in my life. It was a very difficult, exhausting process. Fortunately, I received critical help from a former co-worker as well as my neighbors across the hall (along with their cat) and some neighbors down the street. So I wasn't entirely alone.
My neighbors' cat is sad to see me go. I shared a back deck with my neighbors and the cat would come to my window and meow in an agonized manner. One of them told me she had never heard him meow like that before. He knew I was leaving. In many ways, cats pick up on things far quicker than people and often feel them more acutely. It's too bad the cat couldn't pay rent. Manny would have been a great roommate.
So I now find myself living with my Dad. This is the first time I've lived with either of my parents in 27 years. It is a weird sensation. I have visited Dad many times, but this time I'm not going back to Boston.
Honestly, I don't know when I'll be back. The past year or so has been one swift kick in the ass after the other. Despite good people here and there, on the whole, Boston was getting me down. It is not a friendly place. There's an aloofness which precludes kindness and warmth and I have not been immune to its effects. As time has passed, I have become more uncomfortable around people and generally more anxious being out and about. In recent years, the St. Patrick's Day Parade and going to Fenway Park. When I attempted to go to Walden Pond on Labor Day, the commuter train broke down and I decided to get out while I could and get back on the T and go home. Boston is not without good memories. But I will need time and space to better appreciate those memories.
I know there are others who have experienced far worse than what I've gone through. I haven't had my home destroyed by a hurricane or a gas explosion. And there are a far less worse landing spots than the Upper West Side. Some people have nowhere to go.
There will be a period of adjustment. I'll need time to establish a new routine and get used to my new job. While I will spend time with Dad and his friends I shall need to find friends of my own. None of this comes easy to me. But what is easy?
I might be the only person to ever move to NYC to save money. However, the savings might take awhile to realize. Unfortunately, our landlord didn't accept our terms of surrender. So we are still obligated to pay rent until the landlord re-rents the unit. Lord knows how long that will take. I spoke with an attorney earlier in the week to see if there was any relief available to Christopher and I. Alas we are at the mercy of landlords and realtors.
On a lighter note there is baseball. I shall root for the Red Sox for the duration of 2018 even if it means missing a World Series parade. Well, I've been to three of them. But starting in 2019 I shall follow the New York Mets. Pulling for the Yankees is a bridge too far and the wound of Bill Buckner and Game 6 of the 1986 World Series is long since healed. Fittingly, my last game at Fenway took place last Sunday (on my birthday) between the Red Sox and Mets. While the Mets have had a bad season you wouldn't know it by the number of Mets fans in attendance. I'd say a good 40% of the crowd were Mets fans. When the Mets tied the game there was a sizable "Let's Go Mets!!!" chant. After a back and forth of "Let's Go Red Sox!!!" and "Let's Go Mets!!!" there was a pause. Red Sox and Mets fans chanted in unison, "Yankees Suck!!!" The transition from Red Sox to Mets might be the most seamless part of my move.
A new chapter has now begun. I don't know if this chapter will go as long as Boston but I shall have my share of New York Stories before this chapter closes. Hopefully most of these stories will be happy ones.
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