Revelation #3: How I Got to the City

Beautiful picture of the city, isn't it? Look at the beauty of the moon, the red sky in the distance. What a place to live! Within a few short blocks you can sample food from almost every nationality on the planet. You can get from the furthest outpost in the Bronx and Queens to the far end of Brooklyn without even getting into a car. It is really something special; you have to live here to know what I am talking about. So, how did a country bumpkin who didn't even know what a bagel was end up in the greatest, most exciting city in the world?

Now, I was born in a different time and place. The world was safer back then...or maybe I was just too naive to know any better. In my neck of the woods in New Jersey farm country kids went to school, married, and had their own children. Husbands worked on farms or factories. So very few went on to college that they weren't even counted. If females worked, it was as a secretary or in a factory...and that wasn't for long because you "didn't want to be an old maid."But, that wasn't what I wanted out of life. I wanted more. My parents always told me I was a rebel; I guess I proved them right.

One night a girlfriend and I were out at a party, and we began discussing what the future held for us...and neither of us were very happy, so we made our plans that night. We were going to the big city and we were going to make it. So, the next day...and despite our parents pleas...we set out with two outfits of clothing each and $200 in our pocket...and we hitchhiked to New York. Yes, we hitchhiked. We were used to it. We hitchhiked everywhere back in those days. We found ourselves a cheap hotel room in a flophouse just across from Washington Square Park...The Hotel Earle. Some famous people actually stayed there...Bob Dylan, John and Mary Phillips of the Mama's and the Papa's to name a few.

Well, my friends, that was 38 years ago, and I am still here. My friend and I parted ways years ago, and I often wonder what became of her. But, with so many young people coming here to the city to fulfill their hopes and dreams only to end up on drugs or on the streets, I was one of your success stories. I never faltered, no matter how bad it got. Here I am world!!!!