Only in Rockaway

By Sarah McVeigh

If you’ve read my past columns, you know I’m not a native New Yorker. I’m from Arizona—a state made of “transplants.” In the desert, most people are from somewhere else, usually fleeing the cold or their families. A lot of people in Arizona need to get on a plane to go see their families. Something I don’t think anyone in Rockaway could even imagine.

To my friends back home, the way we live in Rockaway is bananas. I live on the same block as my brother-in-law AND sister-in-law, with my mother and father-in-law just eight blocks away. To an Arizonan, that’s a sitcom premise; to a Rockaway local, it’s normal.

I am usually the first to complain about how much harder life is here (if you can make it here…). But I was recently reminded of the reason we all deal with the snow, old ugly houses selling for $1 million, trash, and crazies on every corner … COMMUNITY.

I was invited over to my aunt and uncle-in-law’s house (five blocks away) to celebrate a birthday. It also happened to be the Big East Championship: St. John’s vs. UConn. Everyone was crowded around the TV to watch New York’s team. One of SOTS’s biggest supporters asked if I was going to write about the night. I looked around and honestly thought, “Write about what?” But as the night went on, I heard my mother-in-law tell her oldest grandson, “Family is the most important thing.” That’s when it clicked.

I looked around the room again with a fresh perspective. I saw a room full of civil servants, local restaurant owners, and parents to the coolest kids on the peninsula. People who have treated me like family since the second I stepped off the plane in New York eight years ago.

I’m postpartum, so please cut me a break on the cheesiness. But this is a sports column, so let’s get back to it.

We were there for a birthday, but would the energy have been the same without the Johnnies? Would everyone have carved out time from their grueling schedules if it weren’t for such a massive game? Maybe they would have shown up, but the spirits wouldn’t have been as high if St. John’s weren’t in back-to-back championship games.

Spoiler alert: St. John’s won their conference! The win brought even more positive vibes to an already lively party. It hit me then that not many people outside of this neighborhood get to experience this: a room full of people who love you, celebrating someone you love, while watching a local team finally meet their potential.

In New York, our teams break our hearts more often than not. That’s why it feels so damn good when St. John’s delivers. This might all be postpartum mumbo jumbo, but the message is clear: Go Johnnies!