Origin Story

New York and London. I grew up in New York and visited London on my very first trip abroad, when I was 9. I went again when I was 20 and spending my junior year abroad in Edinburgh, and again when I was 25 on my way to and from a drive around Wales.

I've always liked London. It's the only place I've made it a point to visit more than once -- not because I don't also like other places, but because there are just so damn many of them. London, though, never felt like a foreign city; I never felt like a tourist there. London felt like home; of course it was a place I came back to.

I suppose part of it is that everyone speaks English, but that's true too in Dublin, Sydney, Auckland, San Francisco -- plenty of cities that I've visited and like or dislike to varying degrees. What really counts isn't language, but soul. New York and London are kindred souls; they feel right together. If you ♥ one, I can't see how you wouldn't ♥ the other.

And then there's Richard. He's London, I'm NY.

We met in 2012 at Cycling for Libraries. I came from NY, he came from London, and we cycled through Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia with 100 other librarians from all over the world. Two months later, we got married. One year later, he got his green card and moved to NY, and we've been here together ever since.

NY♥London, going strong.