Moments That Spark Joy For Me ft. NYC Strangers
New York City is honestly the best place for those who enjoy people watching. In a city that never sleeps, there is always something happening. Whether I am sitting at a cafe shop looking outside the window to flaneusing in Central Park, I find myself observing others and trying to remember those moments that make me happy.
Call me a romantic person because it’s these moments that make me feel all warm and cozy inside- all the “feel -good”.
Moment #1: Good luck, we will need it!
Last Summer, my friend and I decided to rent bikes for a ride at Central Park. After securing our bikes from the rental shop, we started to head towards the park with the nearby tourist couple who also just secured their bikes. I had a feeling they were not used to New York taxi drivers and as a local, I was not used to riding a bike on the street. (I prefer subway transportation or walking.) Naturally, we formed a single-file trying to turn right between pedestrians jay-walking to cars honking at us. At the next red light, they turned around to my friend and I and joked “it seems like we are signing up for death”. We exchanged a few laughs and good luck wishes to each other before the light turned green.
Moment #2: The Knitting Club at Starbucks
I play volleyball on the Upper West Side every week for the past few months. Whenever I am early for the open-play, I either go to a Barnes & Noble, a local crepe shop, or Starbucks. And one day I decided to go to Starbucks as I needed to get some work done before I completely checked out for the evening. As I sat in Starbucks sipping on my iced vanilla latte, a group of older ladies (3 in their sixties and 1 probably in her thirties) came in one by one greeting each other on the table next to me. I suspected they were friends who haven’t seen each other in a while since they seem to have been asking each other how they have been- catching up, the usual stuff. For some reason, I rarely see people in their 60s still hanging out as a group and just thought this was the cutest thing, only to be blown away as they took out their yarn and started knitting together.
If this kind of stuff doesn’t melt your heart, I hope this does: they were waiting for their last friend to show up. One lady said she left her iPad at home and can’t message the last friend to see where she is. Without skipping a beat, the lady in her thirties reached for her iPhone to call. I couldn’t help but feel awed by their interaction. Despite the age difference, they were able to connect because of their common hobby: knitting. Shortly later, I had to rush to my volleyball game and reminded myself that this too was a common hobby I shared with other volleyball players. 2 weeks later I went back to Starbucks and saw them at a different table. Sure enough there they were knitting again.
Moment #3: Popping Bubbles at Washington Square Park
A few months ago, I was stressed about my future (still kind of am) and just wanted to rejuvenate myself by going to a pop-up event and walking around Washington Square Park. There were a lot of skateboarders at the park and couples enjoying their pretzels on the benches. One particular little kid caught my eye. All dressed up in his yellow raincoat, he was jumping up and down on this gloomy day chasing the bubbles the artist was forming in the air. From large bubbles to small, he would run after them like a game of tag and touch each one before they would make contact with the floor. He was smiling so brightly without a worry in the world, and it just reminded me to not take things so seriously. Whatever I was stressed about felt like it wasn’t as significant anymore.
As humans, we constantly strive for our next goal and achievement and fail to be truly happy because we are always chasing for the next thing. By recognizing what sparks joy and appreciating the interactions between strangers, I realized I can also find happiness in my everyday.
These are the moments that spark joy for me ft. NYC strangers.
Currently 10:49 pm here in Brooklyn, NY.
