So this was to be the last part of my NY trilogy – I hate New York, I love New York, I depart New York. I have departed, and I’m now living in the suburb where I raised my children.

In the weeks before I left, much of the news centered around other Jews who were leaving their homes elsewhere – many of them reluctantly and with great anger and or sorrow. Politics aside, nostalgia always exits with us when we make our final walk through the front door – nostalgia tinged with grief, with remorse, with fondness at times, but it accompanies us as we take our last steps, and I’m thinking how lucky I am. How lucky to be able to make a decision based on my desires and those of my family and not a decision that has been mandated by the State. I empathize with the hands that refuse to let go, hands that cling to a door frame as though the memories can somehow be carried along to a new place without a sense of loss.

I’m in a new space and I look out the window in the evening or sit on my little terrace, and ahead of me is a sea of green colored by the setting sun. No, I don’t miss what has been characterized as a spectacular view of the East River and yes, I do sleep at night even though it is very quiet and no, I don’t miss the heliport next door and I’m looking forward to watching the kids in the school yard across from us playing and making lots of noise.

I’m also lucky that I’m still living In New York State and not in the Southern state that has been in the news all week. My back problem had been exacerbated by the move and the dreaded sciatica has teamed up with a pinched nerve and my feet are so numb I can barely walk and I think of how I might have fared in New Orleans. There was no salvation for the young, old, halt, poor and or lame and there but for the grace …. Again, politics aside, provision is not made by our Administration for the marginal among us, in fact provision is not made for most of us. I find it all quite frightening that government of, for and by the people has become so selective as to who those people are. And it does no good to say that I didn’t vote for these office holders; I obviously didn’t do enough to vote against them. I tell myself it’s time for a wake up call while I’m still lucky enough to wake up.