It was a lazy afternoon on my college campus when, after classes, my friend Veronica and I decided to write down 30 things we wanted to do before we turned 30. At the time, it seemed like such a long time away. The only rule was that we were supposed to dream like children—wild and free.
I want to tell you that we wrote it down and immediately got to work on achieving our 30 things. In truth, we forgot about the list pretty quickly after. So it will never fail to amaze me how the crazy dreaming, the simple wishing of two teenagers on a piece of paper, found a way to take shape in our lives.
So, 4–5 years later, when I moved to London, I lived every day like I was running out of time. I fell in love countless times—with charming alleyways, with old buildings, with the moments before curtain call in old theatres, with the way the city lights up for Christmas. I also found joy with friends over lunches and dinners with food from around the world, and cozy comfort at the bottom of a bottle of wine, curled up on a friend’s couch—just chatting about life.
Looking back, there is so much of me that I left behind in London. I suppose a part of me will always live there, so that when I do go back, it will always feel just a little bit like coming home.
When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford
Samuel Johnson
The Big Smokey Apple 