Comedian vs Author - NYC OpEds of the Week

There is a fascinating debate taking place across Op-Eds written by Jerry Seinfeld in the NYT and James Altucher in the New York Post. Both bring up valid points. While Jerry leads with emotion, James is very articulate in stating the facts. Either way, I wanted to share my thoughts on the situation below.

Funny story, when I first moved to NYC, I really had no money and was fortunate enough to have a family friend who let me live with her for a few weeks until my first check hit my bank account. As it would turn out, Jerry Seinfeld was her neighbor and I remember waking up early one morning and while reading the Times, looking out the window to see Jerry himself, eating a bowl of cereal. Per the unwritten rule of NYC, I did not wave or gesture to him, but I thought to myself what a cool New York City moment I just had. I was content with that experience setting the stage for my time in NYC.

Fast forward five years later and many more great experiences, my fiance and I had to make the tough decision to leave the city in March. There were a whirlwind of emotions during the beginning days of Covid and decisions were made on the facts we had on hand at the time. We've taken refuge in the suburbs where we grew up in Connecticut and after a small legal battle, we were able to get out of our NYC lease (shout out to our fantastic lawyer, Heather Ticotin). Right now we're grateful to still have our jobs, continue to plan our wedding for 2021, and we're even taking advantage of our WFH by moving to Cape Cod for the rest of the Fall.

There have been so many changes the past five months but we miss the city and everything the city offered. We miss our friends, we miss our morning walks in Central Park with our dog (and meeting up with our fellow dog parents), happy hours, exploring the city to find new places and hidden gems and most importantly, we miss the energy.

I am confident the city will get to a place when we can spend Friday afternoons on rooftop with friends or sit two inches from another couple at your favorite Italian restaurant (I am okay if this doesn't come back to be honest), but until then, we'll remain patient and appreciate those who are working hard to keep the NYC spirit alive and the energy strong.