Small World

Wilma Epstein--possibly the friendliest, most generous woman not only at 331 East 71st Street but in all of NYC--hosted a New Year's get-together for our neighbors. The women here represent a vast range of ages, nationalities, and professions: from 91-year-old retired social worker Shirley Lipsky to less-than-a-year-old Elsie Wagner. Tonight, in an apartment decorated within an inch of its life in both Christmas and Hanukkah decorations, a retired fashion designer caught up with a personal assistant in wealth management, a grief counsel for Visiting Nurse Service of NY chatted with a long-time animal rescue expert, and I enjoyed the easy laughter, the older neighbors' collective memory (the area was still distinctly old-time Yorkville when Natalie Levison moved in in 1956, the year I was born), and the reassuring recognition that, on an island of a million strangers, I am right at home.