9 Things I *Won't* Miss About Living in New York

Paul, unloading the car while temporarily parked in front of a fire hydrant

As much as I love New York, it's not always easy to live here. Personally, I think the pros outweigh the cons, but it's tempting to think differently when it's 90 degrees outside and your air conditioner isn't yet installed.

In no particular order, here are nine things I won't miss about living in New York:

1. The Noise.

Yep, noise was also on my list of things I'll miss about New York. I like the hubbub of living in Brooklyn, but there are certain noises I won't miss at all. At the top of that list is probably car alarms. Especially when they go off for hours nonstop in the middle of the night. And yes, that actually happened once.

2. Laundromats.

If you absolutely have to use a Laundromat, then ours is about as good as they get. Clean, tidy, air conditioned, just around the corner and open into the evening. But no matter how bright and cheery, it's still a Laundromat and we still have to drag our loads of laundry down three flights of stairs and then back up again. Also: No need to save our quarters anymore!

3. Tiny Grocery Stores.

Bodegas are one thing -- they're small, but that's OK because you're only getting perishable items. Tiny grocery stores are quite another thing. It's generally easier to use a basket because the carts barely fit down the aisle. And there's an annoyingly tiny selection of products.

Bay Ridge and the city as a whole do have some larger grocery stores, but these come with other issues; namely, you'll want to stockpile foods when you actually go to one of the nice supermarkets, which means you'll need a car, which means you'll be double parking in front of your apartment to unload the groceries. And all before you go try to find a parking spot.

4. No Parking Spots.

And speaking of parking spots, they can be hard to find. Paul, who has to find a parking spot each day after work, says it takes 5 or 10 minutes on a good day, or up to 25 minutes on a bad afternoon. And on those late nights when we're returning from a long drive from Ohio or a weekend trip, your heart sinks as you keep circling the blocks as the clock tick-tocks nearer and nearer to midnight.

5. Traffic.

The traffic doesn't bother me too much since I rarely drive here, but I hate it on Paul's behalf. Even though Paul drives nearly every work day, he still hates the craziness -- and it makes me nervous when I'm a passenger. Cars are double-parked. Bikes and pedestrians dart into the lanes. Drivers are aggressive, and you better, too.

6. No Free Refills.

I don't like pop, and I don't buy pop, but this still bothers me. It's just the principle!

7. Window Air Conditioning Units.

All hail central air. Window units are loud and inconvenient, and you'd need about five to keep the apartment truly cool. I can't wait to have a programmable thermostat again.

8. Not Being Able to Control the Heat.

And that thermostat will be pretty sweet in the winter, too. Here, we're pretty much at the mercy of our landlord. There's no real way to control the amount of heat -- or lack of it -- that comes through the radiators. And we also don't control when the heat comes on for the season, which can lead to some cold fall days (and, on a related note, cold spring days when the heat's turned off for the year).

9. Stairs.

Groceries. Laundry. Luggage. An area rug. Stroller and baby. A lot of stuff -- and a lot of heavy stuff -- have gone up and down the three flights to our apartment. But it's not just at home that we meet lots of stairs. There's the subway, of course, and almost every building you enter, it seems. New York was built up, and it's obvious by the number of stairs.

12 Things I'll Miss About Living in New York

I'm going to miss more about New York than I can ever include in any list. And I probably won't even realize half of what I'll miss until I'm already gone.

But excuse me while I put on my rose-colored glasses. In no particular order, here are 12 things I'll miss about living in New York City:

1. The Noise

What many people hate about New York, I love. Buses stopping at the nearby corner. The hum of diners at the restaurant downstairs. Cars splashing through puddles during a rainstorm.

Even better are the sounds that seem out of place in a city. The church bells. The horns blasted by ships in the bay.

When we first moved here I hated the constant noise, particularly the garbage trucks in the middle of the night. Now the noises are a part of life. They remind me that I live in a city.

2. Public Transportation

It's good for the environment. It's convenient. You can read while you're on your way to where you need to be. What's not to love?

Sure, there could be improvements to New York City's subway system -- more frequent late-night service and cell phone signals throughout all of the lines would be a good start -- but all in all, I'm going to miss it.

3. Proximity to Everything

My grocery store, hairdresser, dentist and closest subway stop are all within a six minute walk. (In fact, I can look out my bedroom window to see if my hairdresser is open.) There's a pharmacy around the corner. A giant department store six and a half blocks away.

And restaurants? I can't even begin to guess how many there are within walking distance.

4. Bodegas

It is unbelievably convenient to walk across the street when we need a gallon of milk, a dozen eggs or a bunch of bananas. No need to plan ahead!

5. Walkability

Who cares if you don't have a destination in mind? Sidewalks are ubiquitous, and there's always something new to discover.

6. Culture

This makes me sound snooty, so I'll say this right off the bat: It's more the idea that I'm surrounded by all of the cultural activities that New York City has to offer rather than the fact that I'm actually partaking in them.

We tried to take advantage of the options. We'd visit a museum every few months (pre-Edith, at least), saw a Broadway show once a year more or less and took in the opera and ballet exactly once each.

I didn't become a culture vulture. And, like a fine wine, I can't even appreciate it as much as I should. Nevertheless, it's inspiring to know that some of the best of the arts are in my backyard.

7. Every Kind of Restaurant You Can Imagine

Polish. Middle Eastern. Greek. Italian. Chinese. And that's just a few of the options in Bay Ridge! Further afield, Paul and I tried Swedish, Russian and even Afghan cuisine. The food wasn't always our favorite, but it was always interesting.

8. Parks

I grew up in the country, but I was never an outdoor girl. A good park is just my speed, and New York has some of the best.

Of course, there's Central Park. But there's also Prospect Park, Bryant Park, Madison Square Park, the High Line and innumerable gems tucked away here and there perfect to explore.

9. Brooklyn Blackout Cake at Little Cupcake Bakeshop

Life is unbelievably better with copious amounts of chocolate ganache. I will dream about this cake.

10. Everything I Could Be Doing, Even if I'm Not

As I type this Tuesday night, the U.S. Air Guitar Semifinals have just begun. I'm not there. I don't even want to be there. But it's happening. And every day, every night, events like this are happening in New York and no where else. Once in a blue moon I'm in the crowd, but mostly I just like knowing this type of stuff is out there.

11. The Lights

Times Square is too crowded, and too full of too many people moving too slowly. Still, the neon lights get me every time.

But it doesn't have to be Times Square. It's the street lights, the car lights. The dim lights when you peak in on a fancy restaurant from the sidewalk. The glow of light through the curtains of an apartment across the street in the middle of the night. Someone else, too, is awake.

12. The Sights

It's a cliche, but who cares? I can take a 20 minute walk and see the Statue of Liberty. In less than an hour I can be walking across the Brooklyn Bridge or strolling through Central Park or people-watching in Union Square or looking up at the Empire State Building.

It's an amazing city.

I'm gonna miss this place.

Loving and Leaving New York

View from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Roof Garden

So begins our final month in New York City. There's a knot in my throat even as I type this. I hate when things end.

I hate when things end even when I have so much to look forward to when we move to Ohio later in July. Our families will be a fraction of the distance away -- about 15 minutes for Paul's family, and 2 1/2 hours for mine, compared to 9 or 10 hours right now.

And I'm very much looking forward to reconnecting with my Ohio friends. I've missed them, even as I've made good friends here in New York.

But there's no denying that what has become a big part of my life is coming to an end. A few decades from now, these six years in Brooklyn will seem like just a blip. Right now, however, they make up the majority of what I would consider my adult life. It's been 10 years since I graduated from college, got my first full-time job and married Paul; more than half of that time has been spent in New York. What's more -- excuse the unforgivable mushiness -- it'll be difficult to leave the place we brought Edith home to when she was only two days old.

I've long made the joke that moving to New York City was like the study abroad experience I never had. Every day you encounter new people, new languages, new cultures. It's like traveling the world with a subway pass. I'm glad Paul and I made the effort to seek out foods, festivals and activities from other countries and cultures.

But when we made our list of things we wanted to do one last time before leaving New York, it consisted of the tried and true:

• Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.
• See the views at Brooklyn Bridge Park.
• Visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• Wander around Central Park.
• Eat one more piece of Junior's Cheesecake.
• Ride the Staten Island Ferry.
• Go to mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral.
• Gawk at Times Square.
• Walk around Coney Island.
• Stroll down the High Line.
• Eat at our favorite go-to restaurants: East Japanese, Grand Sichuan House, My Thai.
• Go to Little Cupcake as often as possible.

Some of these we've already done in the month or so since we knew for sure that we were moving. Others we have plans to do. And still others may have to wait for our next visit to the city.

Visit. The next time I come to New York, I'll be a visitor. In a very superficial way, this makes me very sad.

I've always considered myself an Ohioan through and through, and I don't think that would ever change. But it's hard to deny that I'm proud of the way I've made this city my own, the way everyone who lives here for any amount of time surely does. I may not be a New Yorker in the true sense of the term after this month, but for better or worse the city has played a large role in forming who I am. And in that sense, in some small way, I'll always be a New Yorker. Or maybe a dual citizen!