Bayside

How did life’s journey bring us to a quiet office in Bayside, Queens, where Laurence will have a medical procedure? After riding the 7 train to Flushing, we wound through quiet shopping streets, through Little Korea, and to a pleasant residential neighborhood with green lawns and blooming azaleas.

We could be at this office’s medical practice in the chaos of Manhattan, so I thank God for the calmness of Bayside, a place away from the subway, but not from the public bus system. When you leave the MTA rails, NYC becomes Anywhere Big City USA with small, medium, and large houses, including mansions, with landscaped yards. Bayside has become one of the most sought-after neighborhoods to live in New York City.

I too dream of living here until I think of the inconvenience of everything. Laurence wouldn’t be walking five minutes to work and coming home for lunch. I couldn’t go to the corner store when I’m making cookies and run out of brown sugar. The Asian market wouldn’t be here to wander in when I’m feeling blue.

Ahh, but Fort Totten is here, that beautiful park with the crumbling fort along the bay. It’s the most picturesque place, especially as the sun sets behind the Throgs Neck Bridge.  It’s a photographic scene where we once watched a young man propose among strewn rose petals to his beloved. There are other green spaces and a marina in beautiful Bayside.

After the appointment, we stopped at a favorite bookstore that’s operated by handicapped adults. We had lunch at Mad For Chicken. The large restaurant with its wood floors and long wooden tables certainly wasn’t Elmhurst.

The Long Island Railroad stops in Bayside, so that’s an option. However, we took the bus back to the throngs of Flushing and then the 7 train to 82nd Street. We returned to the city’s brick and asphalt, to home in Elmhurst – our favorite place!

Berniece