Brandon Stanton's Blog, page 437

"How’d you meet?""We were nineteen. I was on break from...

"How’d you meet?"
"We were nineteen. I was on break from college and lounging around the house. My mom said: ‘Call that Carter girl and ask her on a date!"

"I just broke up… well… I just got broken up with. I...

"I just broke up… well… I just got broken up with. I thought I was going to marry him. It’s frustrating. After being independent for so long, and going from place to place and man to man, I’ve finally come to a point where I’m ready to settle. And I can’t."

Seen in Grand Central

Seen in Grand Central

"Regardless of what you think about religion, it provides a...

"Regardless of what you think about religion, it provides a space for people to reflect on how small we are. Now that religion is being increasingly phased out of society, people have to take it upon themselves to reflect on humanity’s place in the universe. Even if that just means zooming out on Google Maps, until you get smaller, and smaller, and smaller."

Dear Brandon,My boyfriend had given me a copy of your book as a...

Dear Brandon,

My boyfriend had given me a copy of your book as a gift for our sixth anniversary today. Curiously perplexed by his uncharacteristic gesture, I observed the pages to come across a photo of us, standing on 42nd street, exactly one year earlier. Shock sprawled across my face and emotion flooded my heart. My mind wandered back to the six months that had preceded this night, which had relentlessly challenged our hearts and nearly broken our bond. It was this night, on our fifth anniversary, that we vowed not to give up; and it was this night that began the start of our greatest year together. I never imagined that I would be staring into this moment again. A moment so fleeting that it had escaped us, lost to the chaos of our times; yet here it is, so beautifully captured and for all the world to see. Though we may be strangers, you have given us the greatest gift of all. Thank you so very much. 

With much love,

Eika

"At first we kept saying: ‘We’re going to beat it....

"At first we kept saying: ‘We’re going to beat it. We’re going to beat it.’ Then after awhile we began to realize that we might not beat it. Then toward the end, it became clear that we definitely weren’t going to beat it. That’s when she started telling me that she wanted me to move on and find happiness with somebody else. But I’m not quite there yet. Not long ago a noise woke me up in the middle of the night, and I rolled over to ask if she needed anything."

"My parents have always been very dismissive of depression in...

"My parents have always been very dismissive of depression in other people. So I’m afraid to tell them that I think I’m getting depressed."

"If you could give your eighteen year old self a piece of...

"If you could give your eighteen year old self a piece of advice, what would you say?"
"Don’t date that girl for seven years in your twenties."
"At what point did you realize the relationship wasn’t going to work out?"
"Probably about four years in."
"So why did you stay in it?"
"Time flies. And with each passing year, we had more and more invested in it. But we kept growing farther apart. We thought a dog might help bring us closer together, so we got a dog. But it didn’t help. And a year passed. Then we thought maybe if we moved from the suburbs to the city, it might help. But it didn’t. And another year passed. Then we thought maybe if we got a bigger place. So we did, but it didn’t help. Then it got to the point where I started thinking, maybe The Next Step will help bring us closer together. But luckily it ended before that."

"I got some purple ones because my yellow ones weren’t...

"I got some purple ones because my yellow ones weren’t feeling too good."

"What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever gotten through...

"What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever gotten through together?"
"I know. And he knows. But we’d rather not say."