Your friend, Flat Stanley-Whitman, came to visit me. I met him in Northport Village, across Long Island Sound from Norwalk, Connecticut. Did he sail across or did he row across the Sound? Either way he was tired after such a long journey – it was about 20 miles!
Northport Village is located in Suffolk County Long Island. Did you know that Long Island is the longest and largest island in the contiguous United States? It is 118 miles long and 23 miles wide at its widest point.
The next day Stanley and I drove to Brooklyn where I work. Technically, Brooklyn is considered to be part of Long Island, but today it is one of the five boroughs that make up New York City. We drove through many different neighborhoods, a kaleidoscope of languages and cultures: Caribbean, Spanish, Italian, Arabic, Chinese and Orthodox Jewish; each with their own style of dress and customs! Stanley was surprised to see so many different people living close together. How different this was from his home in Farmington, Connecticut!
I work near the Brooklyn Bridge, one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. It was completed in 1883 and has a pedestrian walkway that allows people to walk or cycle across the bridge, high above the East River, from Brooklyn to Manhattan. Walking along the Promenade, we marveled at the Statue of Liberty and the tall buildings on the other side of the river that makeup the beautiful Manhattan skyline. We also sadly remembered the Twin Towers that no longer rise majestically across the way.
Soon it was time to return home. On the way back to East Northport, we stopped by to visit the home of another Whitman: Walt Whitman, the famous American poet who was born on Long Island and wrote poems about the beauty of nature. I wonder if they are somehow related? Perhaps a distant cousin decided to seek his fortune in New York and settled in the west hills of Suffolk County Long Island? Walt Whitman also traveled to Brooklyn and settled there. In fact, he was living in Brooklyn when the Brooklyn Bridge was built! Brooklyn was very different then, mostly farms and orchards.
Stanley was amazed at how the world has changed. And yet, some of the simple pleasures that Stanley, and then Walt Whitman, enjoyed we also enjoy: walking in the woods, listening to the birds, watching the waves along the shore. These are life’s simple pleasures that give us peace and joy. Walt Whitman captured these images beautifully.
Stanley is on his way home now. I hope he enjoyed his visit. I certainly enjoyed showing him where I live and work!
Submitted by Mimi, friend of Adria
Monday, June 7, 2010
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