The moment I knew one day we'd live in NYC

I’ve told parts of this story before – but here (as Paul Harvey would say) is the rest of the story.  

When Larry took me to New York City for the first time in 1981 to see the Yankees play the Dodgers in the World Series, I fell in love with the city – the beautiful, the gritty and the hopeful. For a girl who had grown up in small town Kentucky and thought her move to Gainesville, Fla., was a huge accomplishment, the last thing I expected was to fall head over heels for the second largest city in the world.

1981 was not one of the city’s best years. The days between January 1^st and December 31^st were filled with news reports of mob violence spilling out into the street, rape, robbery and other seeds of crime that had the city’s citizens fearing what their city was becoming. There were more than 120,000 robberies reported in the city that year - the most of any year in its history.  There were over 2,100 murders and the city was still reeling from the killing of John Lennon a year earlier. By comparison, there were 648 murders in 2013.

We flew in late on a cold Monday night and were picked up by Larry’s Dad. It was my first time meeting my new father-in-law and I was scared he wouldn’t like or accept his Kentucky-born daughter-in-law (we ended up really connecting and have been very close over the years).  He took us to Larry’s Aunt Dot’s apartment for the night, and Larry and I grabbed a few hours of sleep before starting our two-day exploration of New York City. 

We spent the first day with Larry’s Grandma Catherine – strong and vibrant at 81-years-old. She took us to her favorite Chinese restaurant in the Bronx for lunch and showed us around the area. She had worked her entire life – and even though she was retired and living in a Catholic retirement home – she left her apartment every morning, walking the city until late afternoon – the exact 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. timeframe she’d worked for years. She’d explore the Bronx, Manhattan and other parts of the city – anywhere her feet took her. She was remarkable.

That night we took in the first game of the World Series at Yankees Stadium – a 5-3 win over the Dodgers – alongside Larry’s Dad and our friend Chuck Cooperstein.  Pregame saw people parachuting onto the field; Pearl Bailey sang the national anthem. The Yankees players included such luminaries as Willie Randolph, Reggie Jackson, Tommy John, Lou Pinella, Graig Nettles and Ron Guidry. 

The following morning we headed into Manhattan – grabbing a hot dog on a street corner and exploring city streets, ending up at Battery Park where Larry convinced a bum to pose for a picture.  Larry and I took turns taking pictures of each other with the World Trade Center in the background.  Mid-afternoon we headed back to the Bronx, packed our bags and left them with Larry’s Dad before heading to the subway to get to Yankees Stadium for Game 2.

Chuck was joining us again that night, but Larry’s Dad had decided he wasn’t going to join us, so we had an extra ticket. While heading north on the subway, we started talking with an older black man who was heading to the Stadium in hopes of securing a scalped ticket. When Larry offered him our extra ticket at face-value, the gentleman was stunned, somewhat afraid that the ticket was a fraud. We assured him it was real – and even though he kept telling Larry how much we could make scalping the ticket – he bought it and joined us in our seats, nine rows behind home plate (yes, nine rows. Thank you, Ray Graves). 

That night the Yankees won again – this time a 3-0 win for pitcher Tommy John that included an amazing down-the-line catch by third baseman Graig Nettles. Goose Gossage (who might be one of the ugliest players in major league history) got the save. Note:  The Yankees went on to lose the next four games – three in LA, one in NYC – but hey, we saw the two wins.

We left the game – exhausted, yet thrilled with our visit – and headed to meet Larry’s Dad to grab our luggage and drive to Laguardia. We left New York around 2 a.m. that night, flew to Jacksonville and drove to Gainesville in time to go to work that Thursday morning.

That was my first introduction to this amazing city – and was the first of dozens of visits that took place over the last 35 years.  Who would have thought that that visit would set us on course to where we are today?

Tom Wolfe may best describe my relationship to New York City: “One belongs to New York instantly; one belongs to it as much in five minutes as in five years.”