New City

On Tuesday, aside from my regular students I had seven guests attend my class. The men are participating in an 11 week career development program hosted by their employer. For the most part they hail from places outside the United States and their involvement helped make the class interesting and exciting. During breaks and lunch I enjoyed learning more about each them.

The only participant from the States, lives in New York. I knew he worked in Manhattan and I was curious to learn more about his experiences there. I could hardly contain myself when he started to explain the location of Rockland County where he and his family reside. A long, long time ago, I lived in the very same city.

Rockland county is sixteen miles north of Manhattan and the Hudson River creates its Eastern border. The area was established by Dutch settlers who left the New Amsterdam colony in the early 1600's. The county has a rich history with many old churches, a preserved Revolutionary War battlefield and the oldest lighthouse on the Hudson.  It is lush with vegetation and includes several lakes. The Tappan Zee bridge spans the Hudson to connect Rockland County with Westchester County. New City is almost the center of the county and is the county seat.

Since speaking with my new friend, memories from the time I spent back East have been swirling in my head; visits to Rockland Lake; driving across the Tappen Zee; getting lost in all the trees; and amazing fall colors.

I moved there on my own but quickly made friends with several other girls. There were four us who were particularly close and together we enjoyed many adventures. Recently, I was able to reconnect with one of my New York friends and hope to find the others somehow. Now, I have a new New York friend. I hope to return to New City someday, preferably during the fall.