I Miss New York

I miss New York. Now that I work from home, I rarely make it into the city anymore. What use to be a daily occurrence is now a monthly or a once every other month trip. There's a spirit to the city that's hard to explain to those who haven't experienced it. It has it's rough edges, no doubt, but there's an energy to it that permeates every building, every subway, every street corner, and even every person you walk past. The picture above is the first thing I saw yesterday as I stepped out of the subway and onto the street. New York was the first place to tell me "I belong", that my identity was valid, and that my existence was never the problem. It never demanded anything from me other than to just "be". Validation can be powerful.

With a record number of anti-LGBTQ bills already introduced this year (over 400), I have unfortunately found myself revisiting a lot of the anxiety and darkness that so very often dominated the younger years of my life. Yesterday's trek through New York City felt like an exhale. I still belong. I am still valid, and my existence is still not the problem.