Keep Calm and Leave the City

Norman in the crowd. He ran across all five boroughs of New York

and made the cover of the magazine that year!

I think we will always want to live close to the city. New York City, that is. And I am not sure why when we don't like crowds.

I grew up as an art student in Queens, a short trip to the museums and galleries with my Dad.

My husband is a Brooklyn boy, born and raised. He was just a car ride out of Chinatown for cold noodles or prawns with walnuts. And it was easy to cut across the boroughs for a quick trip with his Dad to opening day at Shea.

Norman even drove a taxi, long before Uber took over the business and made it cool to drive other people around. As New Yorkers, we never questioned the noise, the traffic or the crowds.

Then we dared to move to New Jersey, a river away from all that the city has to offer and at least an hour by car on a good day. As foreigners, New York is exhausting. We are always happy to partake in the theatre, to take a hike with Shmooey, to reminisce with Vicki, or to pop in to see my Dad. So why do we always feel like a bunch of tourists every time we enter the isle of Manhattan? The mad rush of people in Times Square has become downright scary to us.

We like the city, but we like to be calm.

Keep Calm and Play Tennis

Keep Calm and Avoid Zombies

Keep Calm and Go Back to Sleep (A good one)

Retirement has given us plenty of choices to slow down. I get to sleep past the crack of dawn and I get to choose between painting, sewing, cooking, or just laying around the house, binge watching a new favorite show. Norman stays out late playing poker and he uses up some of that energy a marathon runner will have for life in a game of tennis, but deck napping is his favorite afternoon hobby. We like to keep busy, but we are taking pleasure in this renewed pace of life.

Everything else is happening too fast. What, are we all running a marathon every day? As every new generation does, people want to bring back the slower movements of the past. A time when every step counted, even without a Fitbit. Every action was well conceived and appreciated. What you said meant something.

The Slow Food Movement started in the 80's and is still going strong with Farm to Table living. The Slow Food generation inspires us to stop eating fast food and to take the time to prepare whole foods and celebrate regional cuisine. Not great for the McDonald's of the world, but much healthier for the rest of us.

In my world of crafting and sewing, there is the Slow Stitching Movement and I am it's biggest fan. Creating art with your hands, not by machine, takes us back to what makes us human. I can feel my mind and body relax with every stitch I do by hand.

And in schools, there is a slow movement with maker spaces, offering kids tools and materials, and enabling them to discover the joy of creating things. That is great. We have become a consumerist generation with no clue for how things are made or where they come from. My art room was always a maker space. The world needs art.

It needs tennis too.
And music, dogs, and smiling faces.
What do you do to Keep Calm and Carry On?

I bet I have a T-shirt for that.