One of the coolest things about moving to New York was having my local paper be the New York Times.  The first morning I was there, I opened up the door and saw it on my doorstep, with the words All the news that’s fit to print emblazoned across the masthead, and I got a chill.

It is the same feeling I used to get when I would walk down Broadway and realize, that while many towns have a street named Broadway, this was the very same Broadway that was the stuff of songs and poems and dreams and heartaches.  The same went for Fifth Avenue, Grand Central Station (my mother used to say, what do you think this is, Grand Central Station???) and The Empire State Building.  Oh, THAT Grand Central Station. This very one here, in New York!

(It is what we feel in California when we talk about The City.  The City, like The Bible. While there are other cities in the world, there is only one that is really The City, and it is San Francisco.  Even after living in Paris and New York for years and years, The City is still, to me, San Francisco.)

And The New York Times, for all of its left leaning biases and imperfections, is still the best newspaper ever. I subscribed to it in Santa Barbara, and I subscribe to it here, even if I just glance at the headlines each day.  It frames for me what the news is, and keeps me feeling connected to the intensity that is New York.

But what I love the very best is the Sunday New York Times Crossword Puzzle.  I am not very good at it. My oldest brother can do it in less than an hour, and I am fortunate if I finish it in a day. And I have been known to cheat, a teensy, little bit (google search: Tony Awards for Best Actress in a Comedy 1967, for example), although I would never actually just look up the answer to 46 across. Not anymore, anyhow.

When I was working, my favorite time of the week was Sunday morning, when I would linger over my bagel and coffee and curl up with the New York Times Crossword Puzzle. It was my guilty pleasure; a tiny, weekly vacation from my busy, stressful life.

Well, now I am not so busy or stressed, and for some reason, I find I never have time for my crossword puzzle.  Something else always seems to take precedence. This past weekend, I had my wonderful cousins visiting, a visit I treasured, so I put the puzzle aside.  I have spent the last couple of days in bed with a fever and could barely focus my eyes, so the puzzle still lays on the table.

Today I have a lazy afternoon planned for addressing 1 across; one going into an outlet, and see what comes of it.  I guess there is nothing wrong with doing the New York Times Sunday Crossword Puzzle on Thursday, is there?

It makes me smile to suddenly realize that, while I am no longer attending meetings and working on presentations and being scheduled from dawn until dusk five days a week, my life is remarkably full. Instead, I spend time looking for wildflowers for the bride’s upcoming shower, and helping to create the perfect hamburger with my husband and adorable stepson.

It is a change in my life I would never have predicted, but one I feel very lucky to have been able to make.