We keep encountering people from Ohio!

New York City truly is a melting pot if ever there was one...people of every race, culture, walk of life, all inhabiting this crazy, bustling city. In my acting class alone, there are students from Texas, Kentucky, Virginia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, France, England, Denmark, etc...and one "born and bred" New Yorker. I love being surrounded by so much diversity. It's one of the things that makes the city so vibrant and alive, and it's something that I thrive on. However, I can't help but giggle over what a small world we really live in, as evidenced by the number of people Jeremy and I have encountered here who are originally from Ohio.

For starters, there is another young woman in my acting class who is from Ohio, Cincinnati to be exact. We met a man at a church we've been visiting who is from Beaver Creek, OH, which is where all 3 of Jeremy's college roommates are from. (We haven't had a chance to ask him if he knows any Knuths, Hamiltons or Schwartzs.) Our neighbors upstairs, well the wife anyway, is from the Youngstown area. She talks about wanting to make a trip back home to visit Austintown...the same Youngstown suburb where my moms live!

Then, there are all the other Cleveland natives. We have one neighbor in our building who is from Shaker Heights and spent some time living in Lakewood. Jeremy met a fellow Cleveland transplant while watching a Browns game in an upper west side bar. Last week, we wandered into a wine shop in our neighborhood and struck up a conversation with the young man working there. Turns out he is from Cleveland Heights and knows our favorite wine bar back home. In fact, Bill Esper (the founder of the studio where I am studying and the husband of my acting teacher Suzanne) is originally from Cleveland.

What is it about this city that draws so many people from Ohio? Or, what is it about Ohio that make so many people want to move to New York? :)

I'm not knocking Ohio, Cleveland especially. While New York has always been my dream, I will always consider Cleveland my hometown. I miss it sometimes. So, running into other former "Buckeyes" is comforting. It makes me feel all the more certain that right now New York is home.

One last thing...Jeremy and I saw a man wearing a Cleveland Indians sweatshirt in Central Park this afternoon. (sigh) There's always next year!