The Empire State Building has been a part of my love story for my entire life.
For as long as I can remember back, my father’s company was a tenant in the Empire State Building. I had a love affair with that tenant’s observatory pass… Sweet talking it away from my dad’s assistant, to whisk myself through the lines and up to the observation decks to watch over my city, from my building- the Empire State Building.
From my childhood bedroom window, I could see the city, my building, front and center. I would gaze at the sparkling lights as I fell asleep on clear nights.
Over the years as I grew and traveled, the one landmarks that always said “you’re home”… when I would catch it on the horizon…. the Empire State Building, my building.
Mr. Right made his way into my heart at the ripe age of nineteen. We were sophomores in college, ready to take on the world together. We were engaged in 1997, married in 1998, at the age of 25.
Our wedding reception had to include my building… but how? My mom found a venue, The Newark club, atop the Seton Hall Law building, in Newark, New Jersey. We went to see it. The elevator doors opened, we rounded the corner, and there was my building… the Empire State Building. That was the place we would celebrate the beginning of our life together… With my building twinkling on the horizon, in her full glory…. watching over us as we danced.
In 2018, Rich and I will Celebrate 20 years of marriage. We have four beautiful children. Over our two decades of marriage we have dealt with medical issues, an armed robbery, in which my original engagement ring was stolen from me at gun point, and all of the regular stuff married couples deal with, from year to year… and he’s still that same sparkly-eyed nineteen-year-old boy I met in that Rutgers Fraternity house… and I’m still that giggling nineteen-year-old girl looking up at him in wonder.
But now I wonder, how did we get here? How is it we are the grown-ups?
Our eyes have seen so much, our hearts have felt so much. Buildings have fallen, loved ones have perished. Babies were born. Scars were made. We have celebrated, we have mourned, and we have aged. We have learned to live in the moment.
When I look over my shoulder, two constants that comfort me… that are always there…. my husband, and my Empire State Building. ❤