Well, I just passed the 8 month anniversary of my new adventure moving to NYC. More importantly, that means there is less than 4 months before Laura moves here to join me. I think I can make it, but it is very difficult. In some ways, half my life is missing. Thank God for technology where I can stay in touch multiple times every day. It’s funny, but the change to cooler weather and football actually makes me miss Laura and the kids more than the long dog days of summer. Probably because I’m a huge football fan. I’m realizing that football is a sport meant to be watched by family or a community where you share a common response to high’s and low’s throughout a game and a season. On that note, I did find a great community of fellow Dawgs (UGA for the uninformed) that meet every Saturday in NYC and watch the game together. There had to be 400 – 500 people barking there lungs out there! Who knew so many, mostly southern, UGA alumni and friends were here in the City. For 3 – 4 hours, it really felt like I was in Athens, Ga at the game. All of the fight songs were played, the chants were chanted, the cheers were cheered and it just felt like home. There was even a live trumpeter playing the Battle Hymn from the balcony…how cool is that! It was even better because UGA won the game. I met a lot of new friends and will definitely be going back. It struck me yesterday that one of the really unique things about NYC is that you can make it whatever you want it to be. If you come to NY and look for rude and insane people, that’s all you’ll see. But in reality, they are everywhere, just more here because there is more of everything here. If you want to lock yourself in your apartment and be alone, people will leave you alone. But if you look for community, it’s definitely here. If you like to work out at 3am, there’s a group here that does that. If you like to sew quilts, there are groups here that are into that…I looked it up (The City Quilter).  There is a group of NYC Southerners that like to run, there’s also a group of NYC Southerners that like to try out new restaurants (for their health, I hope it’s the same group). I found them through a site called Meetup. Go check out www.meetup.com and look at all this City has to offer. There’s even a group for the shy and those with Social Anxiety (I hope it’s well attended). There are groups for backpackers, new moms that live on the UWS, writers and even people that want to take part in flash mobs. It’s interesting to me the responses I get when I ask people that have lived here a short time if they like it or not. Those that don’t, usually don’t get out much and are intimidated by the loneliness created by the size and complexity of the City. Those that love it have found community here. Many, including me find it through work or Church (Faith is the ultimate community builder in my experience) or through other things like NYC Dawgs. Funny, Church and College football are truly Southern things and they are life lines for me here. Anyway, enough ramblings for this week. Until next time…Go Dawgs!!