Sharon’s tattoo is an ode to New York: ‘I didn’t want a hot dog’

Frank Sinatra sang it almost 45 years ago: ‘Start spreading the news, I’m leaving today. I want to be a part of it, New York, New York.’ It is still Sharon’s anthem. She was 21 years old when she first left for the Big Apple as an au pair. “I lived at home and worked in a notary office, but I needed something different.”

Sharon ended up in Ridgewood, a suburb of New York, where she cared for two girls, ages three and six. “It was a prosperous family that was well off, rich stinkers, we would say here in Brabant. They had a summer home in the Hamptons. The children called it their little housebut it was a villa with six bedrooms and four bathrooms,” she says laughing.

Such a luxurious beach house was of course the cream of the crop, but Sharon preferred to sit on the bus to New York – an hour’s journey – with her nose against the window, staring at the towering skyscrapers, luxury boutiques, yellow cabs and hot dog stands.

“My sense of direction is terrible, so I didn’t go beyond the Fifth Avenue area that year for fear I would get lost,” she says. “I looked at everything with a book in my hand, because mobile internet and route planners did not exist at the time. I had an old Nokia with which I could make calls and that was it.”

“What an experience,” she says now. “Completely different from a normal city trip, because there is so much going on. New York is a city full of contrasts, a metropolis that operates 24 hours a day. Although thousands of tourists wander through the streets, the lives of New Yorkers continue as usual. I don’t have to do anything, just be.”

When she returned to the Netherlands after fourteen months, she was wiser and more independent, having definitely outgrown her youth. “I started living on my own and learned to make my own choices.”

Years later, Sharon met a nice man. Together they visited New York to celebrate love – another sensational experience. They got married on the 4th of July in 2015, the Fourth of July (the national holiday on which Americans celebrate their independence, ed.). “We wanted to give our wedding a festive touch. And we thought: if we get married on Independence Day, there will definitely be fireworks,” she laughs.

After seven and a half years the love was over. “I used my savings to book a plane ticket back to my favorite city. I felt at peace with the end of our marriage and saw it as a new beginning.”

“I was delayed 29 hours on the outward journey, but I managed to rebook the flight and arrange an extra night in a hotel. Because hey, no one cared about my vacation – not even United Airlines,” she says, laughing.

Once there, she did everything she wanted to do. “I’ve been to two Broadway shows. The Lion King had been on my wish list for twenty years. A rib from my body, but I didn’t care. I also attended photography workshops there and finally took the photos I dreamed of. Around sunset I went to a rooftop bar for a drink. It was magical.”

The tattoo on her forearm reminds her every day of her favorite city. “I wanted to get something typically New York, but not a hot dog. It was the skyline with one of the bridges above Central Park. At first I didn’t want to have the tattoo colored in, because I thought it would hurt terribly. But when I lay there and he started drawing, it wasn’t that bad. “Shall we do it anyway?” he asked. And then I lay there for three hours longer.”

That last trip was healing. “I realize that I am not there yet. I am doing a photography course and am looking for a new job. But the experiences I have gained there are valuable and give my life direction and shine.”

Sharon never felt lonely for a moment. Nowhere does she feel more at home than in the bustling metropolis. “I feel safer there than in Amsterdam,” she admits, and then laughs: “Yes, what am I even doing here, right?”