The Sunnyside of Life

During the home study for adoption you spend a lot time evaluating yourself. What kind of couple are you? What are your interests? What makes you different than all the other couples that want to adopt. So we thought a lot about what do we like to do? One of the things we like to do together is explore other neighborhoods.

New York City is one of those rare places that can transport you into a different world in a mile. Before moving to Queens, honestly we didn't spend much time here. Usually it was some weird thing we were going to or the "oh no" moment that you have when you don't get off the train at the last stop in Manhattan and now you’re going to Queens. We've been missing out. Queens is full of culture, interesting people, authentic food and life-long New Yorkers.

Our recent excursion took us to Sunnyside on a Saturday afternoon.  The trains are always screwed up on the weekends which force you to get creative when trying to get where you want to go.  We needed to go to Home Depot and Marlon wanted to check out Comic Book Heaven.  So off we went on the 7 train to Sunnyside.  We figured we'd walk through and see what everyone is talking about on the way to Home Depot.  What a cool little neighborhood.  The Tudoresque architecture gives it a quaint feel and there are lots of local restaurants and shops.

There was a grocery store right outside the subway stop that we decided we would come back to and shop at before heading home. Marlon and I are suckers for a new grocery store but more about that a little later.  The comic book store was one of those real shops that has been there forever with boxes to dig through and owner who is a character. Plus it had a little thrift store section that I could look at when I got bored. We walked around, held hands, pointing at buildings and stores all the way to Home Depot.

On the way back, we were starving. You know what they say about not going grocery shopping on an empty stomach, so we decided to get a snack. It was almost dark and there was a woman with a table set up with baked goods on sidewalk. Just right there on the street like in front of her house. We stopped and took a look. She started describing what she had and told us that she and her sister baked everything. So we bought a spinach pie and apple strudel to share. OMG! They were DELICIOUS. Ok, so we bought food from an unregulated vendor off the sidewalk, it's called living a little. We are both still alive and I am thinking about going back tomorrow. It was that good. She’s at 48th Street and Skillman Avenue, go and get a spinach pie!  Now we were ready to hit the grocery store. As we were approaching Fresh and Save, we hear "Jenn and Marlon, Jenn and Marlon" and who do we run into but our church friends. Small world.

We love a new grocery store. Neighborhood stores usually stock whatever the local flavor is and we like to try new things. We seem to always go to a grocery store whenever we are travelling. We've been to grocery stores from Canada to Mexico and from Italy to Spain. Candy from a foreign land is the best. At this grocery store, we picked up some Galil honey cookies and guavas.  P.S. I decided I actually don't like guavas.

After stepping off the train back in our neighborhood, Marlon said, I feel like I’ve been on vacation. I said, I know. You know that feeling you have when your rejuvenated and excited about life? That can happen by just trying something new for the afternoon. Always try to live on the sunny side of life.

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