This year I was presented with a great opportunity. The chance to finish my education at The University of Central Florida, a chance not so easily given to those who aren’t born and raised Floridians. As wonderful (and warm) as that sounded, there was something holding on, not quite wanting me to leave yet.

I have always wanted to live in New York City. I love the pace of life, the culture, the opportunities, the bagels, all of it. I knew I’d love it here, but I never thought I’d love it so much that I wouldn’t be able to leave. When I moved to New York three years ago for school, I figured that’s what my life here would be. Just school. I’d come for the year, leave for the summer. It’d be my school year home. I was wrong. I got here in August of 2013 and never left. Not even for summer. I was hooked.

I started to realize the amount of opportunities I had here in comparison to where I grew up. There were more chances for me to try something new as far as work was concerned, more things for me to do from a social aspect, and just the opportunity to learn to be a little more independant. As I struggled to find a paying job my first summer in the city, I ended up being a production assistant for a show whose cast and creative team I fell in love with, stalked the Tony Awards from across the street, spent a long night with my roommate in a shady hospital in Queens, and even ended up in a sticky situation that tested my ability to be an adult. All things I never would’ve learned if I had gone home.

My second year in New York gave me the best gifts a person could get. A new school brought me a family I can’t live without. (Seriously, we had such terrible separation anxiety two days after graduating that we all went to brunch.) And this same school taught me more about myself than I could’ve possibly imagined. My second year was really a test of my strength and endurance, both physically and mentally. I needed to be physically strong enough to get through the week and mentally strong enough to not give up. And I didn’t. Little suburban Emily wouldn’t have been so strong.

As I approach the third anniversary of my moving to New York in August, I can’t help but be grateful for the family New York has given me. They are the reason I can’t leave. I want to be there to watch my friends on Broadway, or watch them take over their field of work, or become millionaires, or start a family, or just watch their lives flourish into something amazing. I want to be constantly surrounded by their love and support. And for the love of God, I want to celebrate my 21st birthday with the absolute loves of my life, not alone in a new state.

So thank you New York, for giving me a life so amazing that I can’t leave. That’s the only thing in life I’ve ever wanted; a life filled with only pure love and happiness. I can’t imagine my life anywhere else but here. New York has captured my heart and I’ll be totally content if it never gives it back.