Farewell, New York

This is it. The day has come. All my whining and griping and lamenting will come to an end, because today is the day we leave this city.

I can hardly believe the day has actually come. It still feels like only yesterday that we stepped off that plane at JFK and grabbed a cab to our new apartment in New York for the first time. Our first order of business? Pizza, obviously. We were just so excited.

Now we're leaving and my heart is heavy. I have loved this city more than any other place I have called home, and I think this is the place that has felt the most like home to me in a very long time. Over the past couple of weeks, I have tried to get out to walk along the waterfront in the evenings whenever possible, just to soak up every last glimpse of that beautiful skyline. Before Eric's last day of work, Ellie, Achilles and I would walk along the water to meet him at the ferry station when he came home. As we walked, I would stare at the city lights, alternating between thanking and praising God for having given me the opportunity to live in this extraordinary place, and fighting back tears at the very thought of leaving it behind.

I have wanted to live in New York since I first visited the city during spring break my sophomore year of college. I can't even verbalize what it was about the city that drew me in, but suffice it to say that something spoke to me, something got into my blood, and I just got the itch. I made plans to come here for graduate school that didn't pan out as I expected, and I ended up in D.C. for three years instead, but my sights remained set on New York. When the time came for Eric to look for a firm job, we both knew that New York was our goal. Thanks to Eric's job, my dream of living in the Big Apple finally came true, and it was so, so much better than anything I had ever imagined.

Through my countdown of favorite memories over the past two weeks, I have tried to put into writing some of the things that have made New York so unforgettable for us. But that countdown is only a sampling of the memories that we have made here, only the tip of the iceberg. There were also museums, walking tours, celebrity encounters, many more parades, concerts like Broadway on Broadway, divine restaurants, charming neighborhoods, wonderful people. There were unexpected experiences like Eric's role as an extra in a major motion picture, or my Shorty Award nomination. Living in New York also afforded us the opportunity to travel easily to surrounding areas, including Niagara Falls, Boston, and Philadelphia. And all that only covers the New York-specific events of the past four years, and says nothing about those other great life-changers like four of our first five years of marriage and the birth of our first baby. What an era!

I want to be sure, too, that Hoboken does not get lost in all of this New York love. Hoboken has been a wonderful place to live, and I am so happy that this is where Ellie was born. It is such a great family community, with so many great resources for new moms. I'm not sure how I would have made it through my early days as a mother without the groups I have found in Hoboken. So I am sad to leave Hoboken, too. I'm sad to leave the waterfront where I pushed Ellie's stroller for miles and miles as I tried to get her to sleep in her early days. I'm sad to leave the beautiful parks and the parades and activities and small town feel. I'm sad to leave the beautiful views and wonderful sense of community. I'm sad to leave Ellie's first home.

But New York City in general has just stolen my heart and I can hardly imagine not living here day to day. Of course, in my head I know that we are doing a very good thing for our family. Our next steps will be exciting ones and I'm sure that once we actually get to Florida and start to settle in, the happy anticipation for our next chapter will really kick in. But no matter how rational my head may be, my heart is still breaking. For now, I can't focus on the next step. All I can do is say my sad good-byes to the city I love so dearly.

New York, thank you. This experience has been one I will never forget. This will be one of my most cherished times in my life, and I know that wherever life leads me from here, I will always look back on my time in this city with fondness and love. Thank you, New York, for letting me call you home for these years and for giving me such priceless memories.

I ♥ New York.

VIDEO: A look back at over four wonderful years of New York life