But today he only saw one of the river’s secrets, one that gripped his soul. He saw that the water continually flowed and flowed and yet it was always there; it was always the same and yet every moment it was new. Who could understand, conceive this?
Siddhartha - Herman Hesse
11 years ago this month we moved to New York City from London. At the time, “we” was me, my wife and our new daughter.
We moved here somewhat impulsively. With a 5 month old baby, only 3 suitcases and a pack and play. Without ever having seen the apartment we were moving into. And armed only with winter coats designed for the moderate chill of life in London.
That winter in NYC was the coldest and snowiest for over a decade. I had never seen a winter like it, or been around that much snow except in ski resorts! My parents didn't believe that there were piles of snow on street corners in the neighbourhood nearly as tall as I was.
My wife and I were able to find a fairly seamless life-rhythm, courtesy of our time together here 10 years previously on the JP Morgan training program and my wife’s subsequent 3 years working here before coming to London.
I loved the city from the moment we arrived. Somehow I find myself loving it more every day. My wife, on the other hand, hated it. Despite being American, she longed for the slower-paced London lifestyle, the cozy English pubs and Sunday Roasts with the Sunday Papers.
I had always wanted to live in New York City - it was a lifetime ambition. The first time I came to the city was January 2001 when I was visiting two high school friends who were studying at Columbia University.
Long before Uber and at the time unfamiliar with Dial-7 and Carmel Cars (if you know, you know!) I took a yellow cab from JFK.
As we approached the midtown tunnel I remember losing my breath as I saw the skyline for the first time - a mixture of awe and excitement - something I still feel every time I come back to the city having been away, no matter how short a trip.
On that first ride in, my excitement was short lived however, as my cabbie rear-ended a car in front of us as we went into the tunnel. After the customary argument littered with F-bombs, he eventually dropped me off 5 blocks from my intended destination… at night… in Harlem…. In 2001.
Despite my cab driver's unexpected detour, I managed to find the right dorm on the Columbia campus and spent 5 exhilarating days exploring everything the city had to offer, including dinner at Windows on the World at the top of the twin towers.
By the time we moved here permanently, the Freedom Tower - in place of the twin towers - was half built. Today, the entire downtown area has been redeveloped and regenerated (except for Fulton Street ;).
We could never have known we would be here 11 years later, particularly as those first couple of years were such a hard adjustment in so many aspects of life. But at this point, it's hard to think of anywhere else but here as home.
The milestones we have celebrated here represent the foundations of a life. Growing our family from three to five, moving into our own apartment, walking our kids to neighbourhood schools, savage winters and sweltering summers.
In one of life’s beautiful ironies, there are friends both from the UK and further afield, that I see more frequently now I live in New York. New York is a destination city that pulls people towards it and almost always pulls them back again and again. It's an aspect of New York that makes it truly unique and something I didn't realise until I lived here.
Irrespective of where you live, it’s so easy to take for granted the things around you that are so special. The things that make up daily life. That are part of the routine.
The actual anniversary of us arriving passed without either of us realising. It was only during my evening reflection that I realised we had completed another orbit around the sun in this incredible city we call home.
In so many ways, that day’s events captured what I love about the city, but also reiterated to me what the city has taught me through my experiences here.
I had lunch with a friend and entrepreneur I have known for the majority of my time in the city. We were connected by a mutual friend in the start-up space, who felt we just had to meet because we saw the world in similar ways. Despite us both losing touch with our mutual contact, we have developed an amazing and lasting friendship.
My lunch partner and I have shared very different journeys during our time as friends, but have always been supporters and advisors to each other as well as friends. Since I have known him, he left a corporate role to start his own wealth management firm, focussed on entrepreneurs. He built a best in class operation and himself enjoyed the kind of exit his clients have, by selling a majority of his business to a larger organisation. His love of the game is such that he has no intention of stopping working and is instead writing a book in the hope of sharing his experiences and frameworks with a much larger audience.
His journey and evolution as an entrepreneur, leader, husband and father has been inspiring as well as educational to me.
The friendship we have developed alongside it is so typical of what is possible in New York - a chance encounter, a willingness to connect and an environment that fosters growth and collaboration. Now we meet every few months to catch-up on our respective lives, projects and learnings.
A few hours before my lunch, another friend got in contact to say he was in New York, from Grand Cayman. It was a last minute trip, but he would love to see me. Completely serendipitously, his lunch was 2 blocks away from where my lunch was planned, making it possible for me to swing by and join him.
When it came to executing on my plan, things were a little trickier as the location of my 2nd rendezvous was a little vague. It turned out it was a new restaurant on the 55th floor of a new midtown tower - I had never heard of it.
It took a little sleuthing but I eventually found him and was rewarded with breathtaking panoramic views of the city on a bluebird day, along with a cold glass of wine with a great friend and his colleagues.
The city orchestrated these moments just blocks apart, a reminder of its magnificent ability to compress time and space, to make the improbable feel inevitable, turning chance encounters into cherished memories.
New York never ceases to surprise, constantly evolving and reinventing itself.
My schedule afforded me the luxury of picking my daughter up from school after my 2nd meeting and enough time to buy us a couple of hot chocolates from the Christmas market in Union Square beforehand. No menus and no prices in the quaint little store - just an eye-watering pre-tip total on the ipad screen - another New York Special!
We rounded out the day, ice skating as a family at the Wollman Rink in Central Park, under the shadows and lights of the midtown skyscrapers synonymous with the New York Skyline. A park and an ice rink that feature in so many movies and tv shows and so typical of New York in the Winter. It's a family tradition in its 3rd year and something I hope continues for as long as my knees will allow!
As we took a cab back downtown, passing the neon valley of Times Square, the sporting cathedral of Madison Square Garden, the car grinding through the throngs of tourists and sports fans, my kids asked why there were so many people, why so many tourists came to New York.
Before answering, I took a moment to be truly thankful for our city. Thankful that I live here, that I can call it home and with a sense of awe that my children are growing up as true New Yorkers, something I could only dream of becoming, even after all these years!
