Mostly Brave

“Take the risk or lose the chance.” – Marko Halilovic

My best friend (now husband) Bryan and I lived in Midtown Manhattan in the mid 1980’s. Bryan makes the joke that I was a stalker, but the truth is I was crazy about him and I knew he was crazy about me as well. At one point, I wrote him a heartfelt letter about my thoughts on furthering our relationship and was courageous enough to send it. Bryan wrote back a long letter to me on how he didn’t want to ruin the friendship. Blah. Blah. Blah. I thought to myself surely, he doesn’t mean any of that so, I made plans to move to New York City to be just a little bit closer to him.

New York City was a blast.

 I stayed at the Hotel Edison in Times Square on 47^th Street for a few weeks. The hotel has a vintage style and according to the hotel’s website, the Hotel Edison was one of the first Art Deco hotels in New York City’s Theater District. The hotel opened in 1931 and Thomas Edison turned on the marquee lights of the hotel himself. In 1986, the rooms seemed average, but the lobby was really beautiful. I just can’t tell you how excited I was to be staying at such a cool hotel and having the whole city to explore.

I was looking for an apartment but they all went so fast. By the time I got a hold of the owner, the apartment was gone. This was extremely frustrating and I wondered if I would be able to secure a place to live. 

One night at a bar near my hotel, I met a man named Jerry who was moving out of his apartment at the end of the month and he said I could move in with him and take over his rent after he left. Being the dumb 18-year-old kid that I was I said, “Sure!” and he picked me up the next morning.

The apartment was on 8^th Avenue and I soon found out that it was a one room apartment with a small loft bed and a couch that pulled out. There was a shared bathroom down the hallway (yuck), one window with bars on it (with a fire escape that we hung out on), and so many cockroaches I needed to run the toaster first, shake the crispy roaches out, and then toast my bread.

I ended up getting a job at Saks Fifth Avenue and worked in a booth on the main floor selling bougie scarves. Bryan worked at a hotel called the Helmsley Hotel.  The owner was dubbed, “The Queen of Mean” and most of her employees whole heartedly agreed.

“Our” New York City was different than the cleaned-up version it is today. Ed Koch was mayor, Wall Street was booming, crack was an epidemic and the city was alive with the arts, bookstores, and piano bars. Each neighborhood had its own personality.

Bryan and I spent our weekends running around the city, eating slices of cheap pizza, taking funny pictures, and living out the best days of our youth. Moving to New York City took a lot of courage and some probably would say it was a bad decision but it was something Bryan and I needed to do. It helped launch us into the next phase of our life, which was getting married and having kids. We were able to say we had no regrets and 100% are thankful that we took the risk.

Taking risks in life doesn’t have to be as crazy as our adventure in NYC but taking risks could open up your life to new possibilities. Fear is a temporary feeling but regret lasts a lifetime.

P.S. I would love for you to share my blog with people that you think would enjoy it. Have a great weekend!