I'm Supergirl, and Supergirl's Just Fine

8/3/2002

In order to properly say goodbye to Boston, I went downtown to the Prudential Building Friday, rode the elevator up to the 50th floor, and looked out on the city of my dreams.

I had wanted to go up to the Skywalk - the floor that gives you a 365 view of all Boston and Cambridge - since I moved here, but it cost $7 and none of my visitors had that kind of cash just for looking at a city from the 50th floor. But I'm not sorry I waited this long to go; seeing all of Boston laid out beneath me after I had connections to it was so much better.

I could see the Common, and downtown crossing, and the harbor, and the bay stretching out into the dark blue North Atlantic. I could see the neighborhoods of brownstones and Northeastern, with the MFA looking even more like a palace from the air. The Fenway was all green and glittering, and I could easily pick out the spire of Simmons next to the Gardner museum. I could see my old dorm, and all the streets I've walked almost daily for two years. There was the Sears Landmark tower, and Kenmore Square, and the little victory gardens on the Muddy River. I could see all the way down Commonwealth Avenue to where it ran into my neighborhood, and I started grinning uncontrollably when I realized I could see my house from where I stood. I could see the river and the domes of Harvard in Cambridge. Everything I've done in the past two years - every street I've walked, every place that meant something to me, was laid out beneath me like some magic painting.

I must have walked around the 50th floor for most of an hour. It really was quite nice. Just big windows on the 50th floor. My ears popped in the elevator just once getting there, right around the 40th story. Because I had the elevator to myself on the way back down, I jumped up and down in it to feel weightless as I came back down to street level. The whole day Friday made me feel like I could fly.

I'm moving! Freak Out!