state by state speak your mind about...new york

[phylny]

26. I grew up on Long Island,

worked in Manhattan, moved away, moved back to the Hudson Valley, and moved away again.

I loved growing up on Long Island, having the Town of Hempstead beaches a half hour away. I got a first-class education on Long Island. Working in Manhattan was fun when I was young, but if you don't live in Manhattan, the commute drains the life out of you. I worked at the World Trade Center for a few years - the buildings were designed to sway, so you could see the water in the toilets moving. There were automatic window washers, and one of them had a toy monkey on it, so we'd always look for that. Sometimes you could only tell if it was raining if you looked down and saw umbrellas.

Life in the Hudson Valley was interesting. I lived near Kiryas Joel, a Hassidic Jewish town, and there were always battles with the residents wanting more land and more water.

Our property taxes were incredibly high - $19,000. Killed us. I wasn't sorry to leave, except that my dad and brother's family still live in New York.