Brand new to the Upper West Side of NYC in the early 90’s, on my first spin around Central Park on my blades? On the southeast corner, a sturdy looking man in ‘walking gear’ called out “Looking good on those blades! Welcome to New York!” and motioned me to come over. Inner knowing chuckling ‘This is why I moved here, I want my world to be bigger and bigger’….I stopped.
‘So what hood do you live in?”
“How do you know I’m not a visitor?”
“I can tell the tourists from everyone else. You’re not a tourist.” Silence.
Extending his hand, “Dick Traum, Achilles Club, Roadrunners, do you drive?”
“Excuse me?”
“Do you drive?”
“Of course I drive.”
“No ‘of course’, this is New York, I need a driver for the marathon next week for the NBC camera crew.”
“What is Achilles Club?”
“The physically challenged”, knocking on his prothesis leg, “Lots of wheelchairs in the marathon, we meet early for a head start, you in?”
I met the team on Staten Island, pre-dawn, in the freezing cold and drove the camera crew truck through the five burroughs to hoots and hollers of ‘My God girl, you could make a living driving a cab if all else fails!”.
It did not…what an introduction to my years in NYC.
And I wrote and directed a short on the Achilles Club that won an honorable mention at the New York Film Festival! I love life.