Falling in Love

I sat down to write in my journal, but think I would rather talk to you. I'm not sure where this is going, so just bear with me.

I was talking to my dad this morning about the magic that some places in the world possess and how the type of magic is different. New York and San Francisco are two of my favorite cities of all time and my love is based on their energy and magnetism. Barcelona had a different kind of majesty. It draws me in because of its confluence of Catalan and Spanish language and culture, its history as a Roman city, and the way in which the old and modern merge to create such vibrancy.

There is a moment in which I get swept up in loving a city, in which I think that this is what life is about. For me, it boils down to falling in love. My heart leaps, my stomach comes alive, my face brightens, and I want to twirl around in circles (sometimes I do). Perhaps that is why I crave traveling and seeing new places so much - I am chasing the moment of falling in love. I can tell you where I was when each city captured my heart; the moment in which I sighed and felt the world wrap its arms around me.

When I was in high school my brother and sister-in-law lived in New York. I visited them multiple times and as they both had to work, I was left to my own devices during the day. One mid-morning I made the trek to Jen's office to meet her for lunch. I got on the subway feeling quite self-sufficient. When I stepped out of the train, there was a musician playing a song that I don't recall, but gave me butterflies. I floated up the stairs and came out of the subway station to feel the cool warmth of the winter sun on my face before being swallowed into the humanity. I looked around, breathed the energy, and just like that, I was in love.

I recall drinking a bottle of wine at the base of the Sydney Opera House. I was there on a three month backpacking honeymoon and wildly in love with my new husband. I looked across the table at Greg and then swept my eyes across the harbor, the bridge, and the skyline. It felt as if the city offered itself to me as a representative of the world waiting to be explored and in that moment it hit me how great my marriage was because I had someone to share it with. He wanted to see the world and fall in love with new places too. Sydney told me it was possible.