'It still might be a shock. To realize you are just one story walking among millions.'

The Chrysler Building, from Gramercy Park

I have lived in New York before. 

I was a Young Adult. Or actually I think I was probably a New Adult.

I was twenty years old; the Strand Bookstore  boasted only 8 miles of books, and the twin towers were still standing. I could see them out the window of my apartment on the 29th floor of this building:

My old home, East 24th Street

I am no longer twenty, the Strand is up to about 19 miles of books, and, as the man sitting next to me on the plane said to his wife as we flew past the Manhattan skyline, ‘It’s a real shame they bombed those towers.’ 

The Strand: miles to go before I sleep

I want to go to there.

Yesterday I visited my old ‘hood; I visited the Strand; and I visited the Association of American Publishers.   Tina Jordan and Becca Worthington at the AAP were so incredibly helpful. They were generous with their time, efficient to an extraordinary (very American, I'm inclined to think) degree, and seemingly connected with everyone I might hope to meet in publishing.  I walked out so dazed by my good fortune that I accidentally wandered next door into Anthropologie  And bought all the things.

Thank you so much, Tina and Becca!

Thank you, publishing, for being full of such warm and interesting people.

Thank you, New York, for still being the same even though everything changes.

And thank you, to the guy in Anthropologie who I overheard talking about how he was going to 'start a bow tie company in six months, then move to London'.

For further reading about being a young adult in New York (in general), and being a young adult in The Strand (in particular), I highly recommend Rachel Cohn and David Levithan’s Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares, from where I stole the title for this post.

Looking at this cover again, it seems not entirely impossible that I had Lisa White’s gorgeous drawing of Lily somewhere in the back in my head when I bought my winter clothes!