Easter in Brooklyn
It’s amazing how far you can travel in a day.
My wife and I left Monroe County Friday afternoon just as the snow was starting to fall. We arrived in Brooklyn (as in the borough of New York) at about 11:30 p.m., to spend Easter weekend with our son’s family.
It comes as no surprise to anyone that Monroe and Brooklyn are miles apart - figuratively as well as literally.
Some of the differences we noted this weekend:
- We took our 2-year-old granddaughter to an Easter Egg hunt at a nice little park right under the Brooklyn Bridge with a commanding view of the Wall Street skyline across the East River. Only one problem - several thousands kids stood in line longer than us, so the 50,000 eggs were gone long before we reached the park. With more than 2.5 million people, Brooklyn would be the fourth largest city in America if it wasn’t part of New York City. They needed a lot more than 50,000 eggs Saturday morning.
- On a walk in Prospect Park, near our son’s home, we noticed a bag with a sign on the outside - free dog toys. Would you see that in Monroe? Here in Michigan, we have garage sales. In Brooklyn, they just put anything they don’t want out on the sidewalk. It’s picked up within hours. That’s how our son furnished his apartment. It’s recycling elevated to an art form.
- We attended Easter services at a Methodist Church just a short walk from our son’s apartment. They started the Lord’s Prayer with, “Our mother and father who art in heaven…” Makes perfect sense to me, but I have a feeling there are some folks in Monroe who would have trouble getting their heads around that.
- On a similar note, there were anti-war or anti-Bush signs in many windows on our son’s street. I don’t know about the rest of Brooklyn, but there’s not much doubt about the politics of that neighborhood.
- On a lighter note: Daffodils, crocuses and hyacinths were blooming in almost every front yard in the neighborhood. As mentioned earlier, we left Monroe County in a snowstorm.
We’re glad to be home, despite the snow on the ground. There are 35,000 people per square mile in Brooklyn; 2,400 per square mile in the city of Monroe. And we live outside the city because we don’t like crowds.