To tell you about my authentic NYC experience

My husband and I have just booked our flights for our upcoming second anniversary. Last year we went to the East Coast to see New York City, and this year we are headed as far west as you can go in Canada. As we prepare for this trip I cannot help but think of our first anniversary and the moment I felt like a true New Yorker. Enjoy...


For our first anniversary, my husband took me to see the Big Apple. I was really excited to see it, yet terrified because we were going to be there right after Fashion Week. I had no idea what to wear! I made due with what I had and realized that pretty much anything goes in the city that never sleeps.

At first, we were both pretty underwhelmed, not that it wasn't a neat experience, but I think it had to do with it being February and it was awfully cold and dirty. Though I have heard that if you wait for summer, it stinks, and in the fall, you may encounter a hurricane, but our anniversary is in February and we are purists.

We walked. I mean we walked, I put my poor feet to work. One day I did it in heels because, after all, it's the fashion capital of the world, you've got to make it work in New York. We, didn't warm to the city, it was more like an infection that got into you. I say this because it wasn't until we left that we realized we missed it.

We stayed our first few nights in Manhattan, and that was pretty neat. I was on the Empire State Building for Valentine's Day while it was pink. I ate a salted bagel, I saw the Statue of Liberty and walked the spiral of the Guggenheim. In the latter part of our trip we stayed in Jersey. It was on our way to Jersey that I had my authentic New York experience.

We had to take the train across to New Jersey and I got in line faster than my husband. I was behind two gentlemen, and there was one man and my husband behind me in line. Out of nowhere this mid-50s bleach blonde, 5 foot tall (if she's lucky) woman pops in line in front of me. I was dumbstruck. In her thick Jersey accent she turned to me and tried to sound sweet (although years of smoking made her voice sound like gravel) "Sweety, my train leaves in 7 minutes, I need to get on it, this is ok right?" She smiled at me and I saw the red lipstick that had worn and bled into the deep creases around her lips and smeared onto her yellowing teeth. I just stood there baffled, there were only 2 people behind me, and one of them was in my party. I thought in my head all of our trains leave in 7 minutes that's why we're in line, lady. 

The woman at the wicket called for next in line, and I grabbed my bag and walked, very purposefully, up to the window. I never gave the Jersey woman an answer as to whether it was ok for her to cut in. I proceeded with business as usual. I went up to the window and asked for two tickets, I turned to confirm this with my husband, only he wasn't behind me, he was having a pretty heated conversation with Jersey Lady. Which, in itself is quite incredible, my husband is not a confrontational person, and isn't fond of strangers.

He marched over to me, my mouth agape, "Did you hear what she called you?" he said incredulous.

"No."

"She called you the c word." (the one that rhymes with bunt)

"What!?"

"And then she called you the b word," (this is exactly how he repeated it to me) "so I turned to her and said that's my wife you're talking about lady."

"Wow." I said in unbelief that a woman her age would actually know what the c word was. "What did she say to you?"

"Oh, she went on about how her train was leaving, and I told her we were all trying to get on the same train, she said a few more things but I just walked away."

And then I smiled. My husband's face puzzled. "I can't wait to tell this story to my friends!" I said. I grabbed my phone and text them the whole thing before the train left the station. I was so excited to have an authentic New York experience, I was told off by someone from New Jersey.

That's all.