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Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Back in the New York Groove

It's not overly common knowledge, but certainly not a secret (or a surprise to those who know her) that my mom's a New Yorker.  We used to spend summers in Queens, were I'd watch the local older kids play handball in the park, eat the lemon gelato in the tiny cups with a wooden spoon and wander around the neighbourhood to get a soda or play with kids I only saw once a year. In an attempt at bribery, we would go to a few Broadway shows (Crazy for You and Will Rogers Follies were favourites) and I'd otherwise entertain myself surrounded with family.

I loved it - I'd go from small town Stratford, or (I thought) big city Toronto to Queens New York City, where by the time I came home I almost didn't speak understandable English, with the mix of spanishyiddishslangnewyork spoken at a speed that only New Yorkers can master with an odd accent that would usually fade by October.

There is a point to this. The point is I always came back from Queens with a new perspective - or as much of a perspective as a kid can have. I feel like that now.

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