Slip Sliding Away

"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Revelation 21:4

There are so many stories to tell in New York City.

For example the 20 something coed passed out on the lingering winters cold pavement in his black hoodie and thankfully still bulging back pocket has a Thursday night memory of 3 dollar Jameson shots and a bout of pool hustling gone awry. But can't remember it.

The bearded superintendent who still lives with is ex wife of 30 years and takes the long commute at dawn from the Bronx. He sits on a stoop of a tenement he grew up in and separates the trash from recycling. Hosing the vomit off the steps, he whistles a song of his youth and the changes in these East Village streets.

The young Midwestern nurse in her pale blue scrubs coming off the graveyard shift at Beth Israel hospital hangs her head in exhaustion waiting on the 6 AM L. She administered care to the umpteenth domestic abuse case last night. What she see daily would make her Iowan family cringe and she knows when calls home on Sunday, she'll keep it to herself.

Or the insecure woman who can't fall in love with the image in the mirror so she falls in love with the notion that continual facial reconstruction will emit some joy into her Dolce and Gabbana carrying comfort life. She would cry you the tale of her 3rd ex husband taking her upper east side life and throwing it downtown with the riff raff along with her matching sweater sets. You would seek emotion in her motionless face as she tells you life ain't worth living.

Finally the sleepless Southern girl who smoked cigars and drank cognac at a private billiards bar with a secret keeping concierge who greased his hair back and signed the bill before boarding a bus to quaint Montclair, NJ to shoot an Amex commercial with a band covering strangely melodic Ramones songs.

She meets all of them at daybreak on a windy 1st Avenue and gives them a nod of common understanding. We've all got a life to lead and a story to tell.

But aren't we glad it's just once?