An ODE to the most beautiful place I have ever lived.

Sniff.

After posting my blog on Facebook, I was surprised that people actually read it. I don't know why I was surprised - I mean I posted on FACEBOOK after all. But alas I was. I received one FB message that immediately choked me up. It was not what was written, but who it was from and it immediately raised to the surface a year of living in the most beautiful place on earth - to me.
My husband and I came to the conclusion that after 17 years of living in NYC, it did not fit us in the same way. And like many others before us, started to explore a life where there was more than one tree and we weren't staring at cement factory.
Maybe it had something to do with living in a loft above a hipster who hated our small child and would bang on the floor (his ceiling) with a broomstick at 4am, in retribution.
Or maybe having to carry the stroller and baby and groceries up through the subway without stepping in a puddle of urine.
Or maybe the fact that my parents just really did not want to visit.
But - Ah yes we were incredibly hip in Bushwick with a baby...Parenting Pioneers really...
But once again I digress! You will notice, I like tangents.
Anyway, it is a really long story but we ended up moving to a place that is really like no other. A place that is unbelievably beautiful, with the world's best neighbors, a place I still can hardly believe we lived. Piermont, NY.
Even now, I get flooded with emotion. As I would take the bus home over the GW Bridge; as sunset lightly dropped it's veil over the Palisades, pinks and blues glinting off the water, I would be overcome with joy. I would step off the bus and cross past the fabulous old silk mill building, over a rushing stream, washing the last of the city off of me. I would gaze at the beautiful homes and lush gardens and think, "this is paradise - really." Every morning we would wake to a symphony of birds, every night we would watch the stars in sky. It was there, in this old house in Piermont as I stared at the changing Autumn leaves on Tallman Mountain that my second child was born. I could feel the love from our neighbors as they sent us warm wishes from their porch. The whole town was like a warm embrace. It is the type of community you dream about.
Somewhere before our move I had pictures (but no of our last few days as Piermont residents. My 5 year old and I took a walk to the marsh and watched the birds circling overhead, as they reflected off the water. We moved to the next town over (also idyllic) with a garden filled with a miraculous amount of fireflies - a light show every night. Did you know that fireflies can be green and red?
But it could not hold a candle to the beauty of Piermont. 

I said this would be an ODE so here it goes...ahem...I am not a poet...

Oh Piermont, gem along the Hudson fair and proud and true
You bring to each resident a life fully imbued
Of beauty truly mystical, a sense of place and time
Oh how you feel so far away from the city I left behind
I wouldn't, couldn't trade my heart, another I will never find.

...tear...

All time favorite things about Piermont (this could literally go on and on)
The doe and buck that camped out literally next to our bathroom window. *
The miraculous symphony of birds.
Kane Park and all our little friends (and their parents.)
The Piermont Farmer's market.
The Library with views of the Hudson - bestill my heart
The Post Office where they know you and your mail.
Our neighbors, especially Farre's
And my little Piermonter, born there September 20th, 2009
* A doe walks out of the forest and says, "that's the last time I do that for two bucks." - Thanks A Prairie Home Companion joke show! I am still chuckling.
Goodnight Piermont :).