Silver Linings: Moving to New York

On match day February 11, 2013, never in my wildest dream did I imagine we were moving to New York City. I was getting ready for work like any normal day, praying about Match results which we thought were going to be released at noon that day (only whether we matched, and then wait until the 15th to find out where we matched). I was shocked when Gabe came out of our room into the bathroom and said "we're moving to New York." He took me by total surprise, to the point where I didn't know if he was being serious or not.

Well, he wasn't kidding, we were moving to New York City and thus began our new adventure. If I said I was excited I would be lying. I was/am so proud of Gabe and all his hard work that he put into medical school, boards, rotations, and interviews all resulting in matching to an OB/GYN program. I had never been to New York City, had no desire to really ever visit, and certainly did not dream of moving here. But God's plans are not my plans, but His plans are the best plans. So we began preparing to move 17 hours East.

3 1/2 weeks before our official move we made a trip to New York City to find a place to live. Gabe's sweet cousin Taylor lives here and graciously allowed us to stay with her while we found an apartment. Gabe had been to NYC in high school on a class trip but it was my first visit.

As we flew into NYC I was struck by the enormity of the city, all the bridges, sky scrapers, and the Statue of Liberty. I took my first taxi ride from the airport to Taylors. Within a couple of hours I was the proud owner of an unlimited ride week long Metro Card (to ride the subway system and buses) and then we were riding the subway to Times Square. Thanks Taylor for teaching us the in's and out's of public transit :)

The next day we met our real estate broker who showed us 6 or so apartments. We decided on one, submitted our application, it was accepted, and then we had the pleasure of writing multiple checks for lots of money in order to move in.

So we flew back to Iowa resting a little easier that we wouldn't be homeless in NYC. The 3 weeks ahead had exciting and hard all rolled into one. The day after we flew back we found out we were pregnant (more on that later :) We stayed busy saying our goodbyes, Gabe graduated, we packed our apartment, I finished my last day of work, and we packed our moving truck. It was a stressful 3 weeks.

We began our trek East with our good friends the Moore's who were moving to Pittsburgh. The four of us caravanned with the guys driving budget trucks with a car on the trailer and the girls following behind in our other cars. We drove 13 hours the first day and stayed in Columbus, Ohio. The next day we made our way to Pittsburgh and helped the Moore's move in. The following day, May 31st, we had a wonderful breakfast with our sweet friends then then headed to NYC around 1 pm.

Now we thought leaving later would be better in order to avoid some traffic in NYC. Well, our plan worked fairly well, except for the fact that Gabe and I ended up getting separated somewhere right outside of the City. I had the GPS and Gabe had his smart phone. The interstate system is much different here than in the Midwest, if you need to turn around or you miss your exit, you are kind of stuck. I attempted to take an exit to see if I could find Gabe but neither one of us knew where we were, so we decided to each follow our own directions and to meet at our apartment.

I ended up driving down Canal Street at 10pm at night. Now if you've ever been to NYC you really don't want to drive anywhere in the City, let alone the busy streets of Manhattan. I prayed a lot, gripped the steering wheel at 10 and 2, Ashley kept me updated on what was going on with Gabe (as her husband was giving Gabe directions over the phone) and followed by GPS. I was worried about Gabe with the truck and trailer because it's hard to drive a car in the city, so he's my hero to have maneuvered the truck!

Eventually I made it to our apartment, unloaded everything from the car that I could, and then I tried to stay busy waiting for Gabe to arrive. An hour and a half later Gabe arrived, I was so happy and so relieved!

Gabe's side of the story is that his GPS on his phone was not working and his phone battery was getting lower and he didn't have a charger with him. His friend Kyle who was now in Pittsburgh graciously stayed up to text and call Gabe with step by step directions so Gabe could make it to our apartment. By this time Gabe was out of cash and the toll bridges and roads only accept cash here. So he was on the Verrazano Bridge with no money, fortunately the Toll Collector said they would bill Budget truck and let him go past.

God is so good to have gotten us both to our apartment in the dark, through the city, around all the traffic safely. So that's a little glimpse of moving to New York.