Before and After New York

Isha
Cebu, Philippines
risk taker
The cool Hudson River breeze blew softly, flicking a few strands of her hair in the wind.  Isha lifted her hand, tucking the strands of long, black hair behind her ear, her gaze shifting to the silver waves lapping upon the hull of the yacht we were riding on in this beautiful summer day in New York.

Suddenly, the yacht made an unannounced stop right in front of the omnipotent monument that is the Statue of Liberty.  Isha excitedly perked up, her body swiveling to the side as she retrieved her point and shoot digital camera and snapped a couple of pictures of the colossal statue, the pinkish-orange sky hovered around it.  She took a quick glance at the screen of her camera and with a huge grin, she showed me the pictures she had just taken.  I smiled back, impressed at the composition of the photographs.

Isha reiterated once again that I should have given her a better heads up about this yacht cruise so that she could have at least taken her digital SLR camera gear with her, instead of this pocket-sized camera she toted around with.  I apologized for the third time, explaining that I really wanted to surprise her with this treat.  I wanted to make it extra special because my dear friend of 10 years would be returning back to our hometown of Cebu, Philippines after a 5-year stint in New York so that she could finally pursue her lifelong dream – a career in photography.

Isha moved to New York in 2003 for her graduate studies in Business and Arts at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT).  Prior to that, she had a fledgling start as a photographer in Cebu, but once she was finished with college, her parents encouraged her to append her studies and it was decided upon that the best training ground for her would be at the FIT which happened to be located at the “capital of the globe” — meaning, New York.

There is that undeniable fact known to the world that New York is the land of milk and honey where exoduses of artists happen daily, these wandering souls making their giant leaps into this dazzling city of promise in pursuit of their respective dreams.  Isha was no different from the rest of these dreamers, striving to succeed in grad school and carving a name for herself with her photography as soon as she would set foot in this arts and culture hub.

Indeed, Isha accomplished much at FIT, and in the last few years, she managed to land a couple of lucrative job opportunities in the fashion industry.  Her photography slowly started picking up, too, especially with wedding photo gigs that came her way.  All in all, Isha was slowly living well into the way of her dream.

But as life happened, Isha begun to realize that New York was not the oasis she had thought it would be.  The city had presented her with so many golden opportunities, but somehow, there was still something amiss.  At first, when the answer started revealing itself to her, she was a bit reluctant to realize it, but soon enough, she understood that she could not deny it any longer.  No matter how great and significant her experiences were in New York, Isha discovered that the only place where she wanted to fully focus on her photography and art was nowhere else but home — in Cebu…

Five minutes after our yacht made that sudden halt in front of the Statue of Liberty, the motor of the vessel started guzzling again.  Heading west, the yacht drove further and further away from the Statue and into the dimming evening where not too far away, the skyline of New York’s skyscrapers lit up, an entire island twinkling with a million tiny lights from every window.  Isha gazed at the sight, a sigh escaping out of her lips.  She clasped my hand and thanked me for the very wonderful gift of this moment to experience and view New York from the best angle possible, one last time before she would make her astounding move back to the Far East.

I clasped her hands over mine, assuring her that she’ll always have New York.  Isha nodded with a grin as she glanced at me, the reflection of the glorious and shining New York skyline bouncing off on her sunglasses.  Before our yacht returned to dock at the pier by South Street Seaport, I asked my dearest friend what was the greatest thing New York had done for her.

She kept still for a moment.  Then, with the smile returning to her face, she replied,  “I guess you can say I found myself in New York, if that’s as cliche as it gets.  Because of your independence, you learn more about yourself.  You learn your priorities in life and you learn to be stronger and most of all, you learn that life is so short just like what they say, ‘It’s a New York minute.’  As crazy as this concrete jungle is and millions of people passing by you every single minute, somehow in that middle of all of that, you figure out who you are, what you want to be, where you want to go, who you want to be with…and then you just go for it.”

As soon as we descended the yacht as it made its docking into the pier, Isha snapped a photograph of me, but not before she remarked one more time that I should have really told her about this in advance because it would have made the perfect landscape photo shoot.  I laughed and promised her that upon her return to this beautiful city, another yacht cruise adventure would await her.

———-

A note from *the storyteller:

Isha has now returned to the Philippines where she will soon wed the love of her life while fulfilling her dream of becoming a renowned photographer.  You can check out her amazing and picture perfect collection here: Patricia Mancao wedding photography