A City Walk

I had a doctor's appointment in my old neighborhood.  It was such a gorgeous day that after the appointment I decided to take a walk back through the area.  So much has changed like every neighborhood in NYC.   Some changes are good and some are bad and some give you hope that things don't change.  I lived her for 11 years.  There was this small parking lot that was surrounded by a hurricane fence right next door to a ceramics shop.  After 9/11 happened, the shop volunteered ceramic tiles to the public and allowed them to customize the tiles in memory of what happened on that day.  The store hung all the hundreds of tiles on the fencing and it was a beautiful and sad thing to see.  16 years later - all that is left is a handful of tiles that they have mounted on a fence panel on the side of the building and the parking lot is now a park which I thought was amazing to do especially in NYC where space is so profitable.  However, it's a shame to see how many of the tiles are gone.  A block away - St. Vincent's hospital is gone and has been replaced by a luxury condo. Across the street, another park has been created and a memorial monument to the Aids epidemic has been erected.   I felt ovewhelmed by both memorials - so much sadness, so much death.  I walked away and rounded the corner at 14th and 8th to catch the subway.  I used to live right around this corner on Jackson Square and there was this corner bodega that was my default place to go to eat - late at night or tired after work.  It had a small buffet and the menu never changed. I must have eaten the same thing off of this buffet - meatloaf with mashed potatoes or sweet and sour chicken - that was it for years!  It was my guilty but reliable pleasure.  Tim used to criticize me for eating the horrible food at this less then clean bodega.  However, it is still there, same buffet, same menu, same dirtiness. I was glad to see it.  So many other things have changed in that neighborhood, it's good to see some things never change.