NYC - Up All Night
The Original Prologue for The Unlikely Thru-Hiker
This is beyond me. Beyond what I know.
The cable box reads 2:32 a.m. Restlessness has taken over. I’m staring into the dark, my mind a speedway with one thought circling endlessly. No pit stops. No finish line. Just laps.
This Daytona of a thought could change me forever.
Yesterday I returned to New York City after months in Italy. The time abroad was gratifying — beautiful, stretching, humbling — but I was ecstatic to come home. I live for exploring the world. For new places. For stepping into the unfamiliar.
Still, this city has a hold on me.
When I left for Italy, I thought distance was the goal. Anywhere far from New York would do. But after months of struggling through conversations, I felt a pull back to where I fit — where my jokes didn’t require subtitles.
Humor is my reflex in uncomfortable situations. Unfortunately, my Italian vocabulary did not support my comedic timing. Punchlines landed like dropped plates. Blank stares. Tilted heads. Once, I spent an exhausting amount of time convincing a couple I was not insulting their grandmother.
In English, it would have killed.
Instead, I looked like a non–Italian-speaking dimwit.
So here I am. Back in the States. My time in Europe cut short, my future in America suddenly indefinite. And because I don’t know how to sit still for long, my first thought is simple:
Road trip.
Buy a used car. Drive coast-to-coast. Meet English-speaking strangers who understand sarcasm. Insult all the grandmothers I want.
But even that feels rickety. Half-formed.
Hmm, what can I do?
Then, sometime around midnight, the real idea surfaces. The one that’s been waiting. New York responsibilities — my job, my apartment — kept it quiet. Now both are gone.
There may never be a better time.
I could invent excuses. I’ve done it many times before. But it’s too late. The idea has taken root. When a thought challenges me like this, it doesn’t fade. It dares me.
And I’ve always had a hard time ignoring a good dare.
