I'm chagrined that it's been a week since I last posted. I think I'll blame it on this whole law school transition thing... Actually, that's not too far-fetched. By the end of last week I'd gotten myself and all my stuff to Boston, but I hadn't quite finished the unpacking when last Sunday I drove down to New Jersey to see my family (and in the interests of full disclosure, another Huey Lewis and the News concert...)
I've come back to visit periodically during the 10+ years I lived in California, but this time it feels different. Those times I felt very detatched, and I also felt like I had to zoom around to suck up all the things about the East Coast that I missed on the West Coast (food, seasons, etc.) This time I have this sense that I can take my time. Boston is close enough that nearly all the things I like about NJ can be experienced up there. I was talking with my dad the other day about getting some Jewish deli, when I realized as though by epiphany that I didn't need to knock myself out to get it down here since I could get it at home! The awareness that I could get things I liked NEAR MY HOME suddenly made me feel much better about having made this move.
With regards to feeling detatched, though, that was a much harder emotion to work through. When September 11 happened, I wasn't there. I was sleeping in California. Though the tragedy was a blow to the entire nation, the real impact was born by New York (and its surrounding area). It used to be MY city, that used to be MY World Trade Center, but after nearly a decade of being away, I wasn't sure they were still mine anymore. It was one of the seminal events that will forever define New York, but I wasn't there to be defined with it. The place changed, and I was left behind. I wondered if I would ever be able to come back and call this place home.
My dad says I'm thinking too hard about this and that of course I can come back. It's not like there are rules for who gets to live here and who doesn't. But regardless, yesterday I got something resembling redemption. I was at my mom's house, where I grew up, playing with the computer (in fact, I was trying to update my blog!), when suddenly the computer rebooted (it ate my blog entry!). It came back on for a few minutes, and then the screen went blank again. And stayed that way. Eventually I wandered outside and chatted with my next door neighboors, who I haven't talked to in years, and we tried calling the electric company. The line was busy, and then another neighbor across the street came over to tell us he'd heard on the radio that most of northern New Jersey and New York were out.
At first everyone thought it was another 9-11. What else could have caused such a vast area to lose all their power? I remember when I lived in California getting teased about the rolling blackouts. People joked it was a third world nation. But at least there the power "rolled" with some warning, lasting only short duration and sparing the hospitals and other mission-critical institutions. Whereas yesterday it all went kaput with no warning.
People came out of their houses and started milling around on the street. Sensing the scale of it meant that it would probably be a while before we got power back, we decided to have a Clean-Out-Your-Refrigerator Potluck Barbeque Block Party. It was a good chance to meet the neighbors and feel like part of the neighborhood again. It was always a nice street to grow up on, although when I was about 6 most of the other families with kids had moved away. It's only recently that it's become a vibrant neighborhood again with lots of kids (in fact, nine boys were born on the street the same year - they'll be able to field their own baseball team in a few years.)
The neighbors had a generator so we were able to watch tv and see scenes of utter pedestrian gridlock in New York. It was a rough place to be, but New York has changed since 9-11. It functions much better as a unified community, something I think it struggled with in 1977 and the last major power outage.
Just as we were about to eat the lights came back on (figures.) But people stayed for a while and enjoyed the occasion as one of the little gifts adversity sometimes brings.