What I won't miss

We only have 8 days until we move from New York City. Lilly just has 2 more sleeps in this apartment, before she spends a week in Atlanta!

Our life here has been interesting. We are in the Upper East Side - in the most elite zipcode in the country, apparently. For the past year "home" has been a small one and half bedroom apartment on the 18th floor of a 36 story doorman building. We have no cars, no backyard, little space; but yet we are in the middle of everything, everything we need is a short walk away.

I will not miss many things about this year. Puddles, for example, on the sidewalk are typically not water. I won't miss avoiding these as we walk by. I also won't miss dog crap that is residued on the sidewalk, from owners who just barely scraped it off. I won't miss the dirty subways and the electrocuted jumbo rats that I've seen there underground. I won't miss the grime that accummulated on our faces after a day of walking around the city. I won't miss people on the streets walking by with a grumpy mean look on their faces, like everyone is pissed off at the world and how hard it is to live in NYC. I won't miss the overpriced rotten produce that I buy at the grocery stores and fruit stands. I won't miss the construction on every corner, the loud noices, and the extreme weather, where it's rarely been between 60 and 80 degrees this year, always over or under.

But there are things I will miss. Like all the conveniences of being able to walk downstairs and buy a bagel, a cup of coffee, a cupcake, a nice dinner, a cell phone, or a trendy dress all right here on my block. The park is a couple blocks away, and the church is on the corner. And walking everywhere has been such a nice change this year: I don't mind walking a mile or two to Whole Foods or Ann Taylor Loft. Lilly has really loved her teachers this year, which is a blessing after our original experience at her first school. (Add that first school to the "not going to miss" pile next to the dog crap; I still am so angry that they allowed Lilly to get bullied and choked and didn't even feel remorseful.)

And living near Lilly's cousins has been wonderful; knowing that every Friday she'll see them at dance class, or knowing we have a built in crew to celebrate a birthday is priceless, as Lilly adores them so much.

And, access to Broadway will be also at the top of Lilly's list of things she'll be sad to leave. Lion King once, Mary Poppins 3 times, Mamma Mia twice, Gazillion Bubble Show, Radio City Music Hall Rockette's Christmas Spectacular, Freckleface Strawberry, just to name a few. It has made such an impression on my little girl, who is constantly belting out Abba as we roam through the city.

What are we looking forward to in our new life ahead of us? For me, the first thing that comes to mind is the kitchen in our new house - a huge beautiful gourmet kitchen will be so dreamy to cook in after our tiny old kitchen here in Manhattan. And unpacking will be amazing - all the stuff that's been in storage this year that we get to rediscover - our furniture, our kitchen stuff, our tv's... And I'm excited about having a backyard for Lilly.

Mixed feelings about driving cars again after this year instead of walking everywhere. And while I'll love the grocery stores in "America" (compared with the awful expensive ones in the city), I'll miss not having everything at my fingertips; asking Jon to walk downstairs and buy a gallon of milk and him being back within 5 minutes will be missed for sure.

In theory I thought I'd fall in love with NYC restaurants but we haven't eaten out this year as much as we would have if we didn't have a child, so I can't say I'll miss them all that much.

And finally, the one thing that I'm surprised about this year is that I haven't felt unsafe like I thought I would. Living in a relatively family friendly neighborhood, if crime exists here, I don't know about it. With a doorman building, we feel safe, and walking down the street, I haven't felt like I'm going to get mugged or anything. (Of course, what are they going to steal - Lilly's bag with crackers and a back up outfit?) But initially I think I was nervous about NYC being hard to live in, and it really hasn't been, from that perspective.

So that's my wrap up of what we will and won't miss, and our final thoughts on the year. I can't wait to begin our next journey... and will NOT miss having this annual adventures of moving to New York City and New Zealand (and moving, period).