Wednesday Wisdom: Chart Your Next Adventure

Crossing the brown metal Queensboro Bridge, as the very spark of light crested the horizon, the dark-blueish black sky appeared the perfect backdrop for the tall, slender buildings that shone like polished silver as that first shimmer of light hit them. It was stunning, simply stunning.

As my car wound its way, with different colors, makes, and models of cars, buses, vans, and taxies from Long Island City onto the FDR Highway to take me home via the George Washington Bridge, the dark blue sky dissipated to a pastel blue one with wisps of golden-pinkish-orange clouds dotting the horizon. It was hard to keep my eye on the road because the painted sky evolved so beautifully.

It seemed in a blink of an eye, the colorful atmosphere became white, crystal clear light now helping thousands of commuters manage their way out of the dark down the bustling highway. Red tail lights dotted the cars ahead of me and bright white headlights in single file, four lanes wide, standing still in typical Monday Morning traffic fashion, reminded me how lucky I was leaving the city in the right direction.

Before my 60-hour New York City trip to visit my sons, a florist vendor heard me tell the cashier I was driving into the Big Apple, he said, “You don’t drive in there yourself, do you?” With a grin on my face, I replied, “I certainly do. I’m a risk taker and honestly the drivers in NYC are really calm compared to Boston drivers.” He shook his said and said, “I would never do that!” I shrugged my shoulders, took my flowers and gleefully bounced to my car ready for a NYC adventure.

What I’ve learned navigating my way from Syracuse, through the picturesque Delaware Gap in New Jersey, and over the George Washington Bridge to either the West Village, where one of my sons lives, or to Long Island City, where the other one resides, is the fact there are so many misconceptions about New York City, and difficult driving into it is one of them.

Sure, I’ve ended up at times in Harlem after a wrong turn, but no one cares if you keep to yourself. I’ve also ended up in the middle of Times Square crosswalk at rush hour with people giving me the finger at times. I just sweat and apologize. And one time I ended up at the base of the Freedom Tower after never wanting to see it after losing a friend in a plane that hit a Twin Tower. But there I was facing my fear, staring right into the new shimmering blue structure, awed by its beauty.

Today’s blog post is to remind you that if you want to focus on life being dark and scary, it will be. If instead you want to look at life as an adventure with colorful experiences, happy endings, and periodic wrong way turns that we learn from, then that’s another thing.

I can tell you with all certainty as I left Ellis Island this weekend, after seeing my Southern Italian grandfather’s name on the registration records on November 14, 1911, after he arrived in America at the age of 3, with his older brother, mother and father after traveling weeks across the wide-open dark sea to America for a better life, is that you must lay fear aside and realize fear mustn’t stop you from living your own life of dreams.  

If you want to look back on your life, as I witnessed it this morning, with pockets of dark and pastel colors, simmering landscapes, diverse colors and sounds, at times secure and sometimes not, then don’t be afraid. Venture on, my friend. Live and chart your own adventures, big or small.