Have not

       

These poor, sweaty children. Trapped in an attic apartment. Won't someone help them?

Summer makes me feel like New York has sold me a bill of goods. 9 months out of the year I'm very happy here. Grateful even, to live in a city that offers us so much. Sure there are downsides and inconveniences, but that's part of the romance! 5th floor walk up apartment, mighty struggles with a stroller on subway station stairs, lack of outdoor space... these things are all a part of the experience.

And the money. The money that flies from your fingers when you do things like buy food, pay rent, and put your children in child care... what, you thought living in the greatest city in the world would be free? You get what you pay for.

I rationalize and I greet all the little struggles with a song in my heart... and then the calendar flips to July.

This place is horrible. There is something about the concrete and the heat spewing from all the vehicles on the street. It is a nasty, spiteful heat that saps my will to live. Night offers little relief. The sun may be gone, but the heat has nowhere to go. Don't bother going for an evening walk. Just lay there, listless and bitter, until September.

And somewhere in July, I realize that the romantic struggle of life in New York is not such a struggle for everyone. There are people with money here, and they have things like beach houses and lake cabins. They spend long swaths of summer with a breeze on their faces and the ocean on their skin. The "experience" of an urban summer is saved for those of us who cannot afford to escape. Lucky us.

I rarely want more than what we have. I don't want a car, a big TV, jewelery, gadgets, appliances, a big fat house, etc. Right now though, I would give anything for a little place where a stiff ocean breeze is blowing.