THALIA-N-RAY

So the Queens bound N train platform was astonishingly packed tonight.  One of the doors wouldn't close so they took it out of service, meaning everyone ON the train had to get OFF the train and join the already huge crowd waiting there.  Not one to love being in the middle of an annoyed and shifty mob, I crossed the platform and jumped on the downtown N instead, figuring I'd ride for a few stops until things eased up.

It was one of the older trains with orange seats grouped in sets of three along the sides, and two more perpendicular to the windows.  I slid into a window seat and scrunched in my elbows so I could finish the article I was reading, an interview with Fran Lebowitz.  But, glancing out the window, something else caught my attention.  Scratched in the frame in deliberate block letters was this... 

THALIA-N-RAY   1-19-90 

My first thought: "They're still using trains from 1990?" and my second thought: "Who were Thalia and Ray?"

On January 19th of 1990 I was seventeen and a senior in high school, living in a tiny Minnesota town.  I had short hair, wore big earrings, made some of my own clothes.  It was my friend KJ's birthday.  I worked at the Dairy Queen.  I laughed a lot with friends.  Didn't drink or get in trouble.  Planned to go to art school.  Listened to U2 and REM.  Dated a guy who could be sweet but wasn't good for me or particularly good to himself.  Dreamed of moving to New York City. 

Strangely, I assumed that Thalia and Ray must've been the same age.  I imagined a couple kids from the Lower East Side.  Probably thought they were in love but it didn't last through the summer.  Bet she had long dark hair and maybe she let him braid it on the train.  She wore long dresses and a men's plaid topcoat in the winter.  He was too cool to wear more than a light jacket.  They skipped school a lot but got good grades and the teachers liked them.  Their parents all knew each other a long time ago when they were in school.  Or maybe not, but that's how I pictured it. 

I wonder what you dream of when you grow up in NYC?  Can you really appreciate it the same way?  Where can you go that doesn't pale in comparison?  I guess those that love it stay here forever, and those that are meant to be here find their way eventually.

Within a few months of graduation, I had moved to New York and started my first year at Parsons School of Design.  I've now lived here more than half my life.  I'm a New Yorker.  Still finding my way, but I have much to be happy about.  I hope Thalia and Ray are happy, too, wherever life took them.