New York may be the best city in which to live, but it’s also the hardest. Sometimes, you have to remind yourself why you moved here—like when it’s 15 degrees and you’re walking to work, or when you step onto a subway car during rush hour and you’re slammed up against a smelly stranger, or when you write your rent check. These are the times that one might say (or scream frantically), “WHY DID I MOVE HERE?!?!”
You need to have thick skin to make it work. I always say that it’s the only city where you see men in business suits running to get to work on time. Or where the snow piles up and the city still doesn’t stop (instead, you’re just forced to hurdle over seven-foot walls of snow at the curb—I call this Curb Hurdling). It’s a city where you have to wait in line to get $14 Ramen Noodles. Ramen Noodles. It’s a silly, magical, exhausting, wonderful, expensive place.
There are only two things that can pull me out of a New-York-I-love-you-but-you’re-bringing-me-down-funk: my mother and my New York family. I’m not talking about my biological family out in Rockaway Beach (although they are very entertaining, and you’d certainly get a kick out of my Nana). I mean my other New York family.
When you get older (and I’m headed toward old bag), and you don’t live close to your real family, you tend to develop a new kind of family. For me, they’re the people who have been there for me ever since I moved here—no matter how annoying, stressed, or drunk I get. They are my support system, my sanity, my life. They are the people who don’t let me sleep with the bartender at the neighborhood bar, who let me cry on their couch and tell me that I’m not going to die alone, who come to see me perform in a basement in the East Village. They are my Real Housewives viewing partners, and the people who motivate me to become a better person and keep trucking in this crazy city.
Last weekend, I got to watch my New York brother Xavier play the role of Angel in Rent for the first time. He was AMAZING, and I was so proud of him. Xavier’s entire New York family was there, and the feelings of love and support were overwhelming. You work hard and pay your dues, but sharing it with your “family” is something you can’t live without.
The Rent family at New World Stages
P.S. Being in the acting community, I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with many creative and beautiful souls. One of these lovely spirits is a friend of mine named Franklin. I haven’t seen him in a while, but recently I saw on Facebook that he had to have emergency heart surgery and almost died last week. His New York family made him the most beautiful video I have ever seen in order to show their unconditional love and support during such a rough time. Watching this video made me realize that life is short and you need to take care of the people around you. I truly believe that his New York family helped save his life. A shout out to my New York family, his New York family, and Franklin himself!
Lindsey Gentile is an actor, writer, comedienne, and all-around gal-about-town. Every Thursday, she reports from the front lines of single life in NYC. Check out her website HERE. Need more Big City Siren? No problem.
