Tonight I traveled back from a weekend in D.C. to my home in good ole’ Manhattan. In a twist of fate, I managed to miss my 5:30 p.m. TripperBus back into the city. As my friend Lisa and I sat in her car in the parking lot waiting for the 7 pm. bus, I mused, “Maybe there was some reason I wasn’t supposed to be on the 5 p.m. bus.”

Then, at around 11:15 p.m., as our bus approached the city, I glanced up at the open laptop of the girl sitting in front of me and saw the headline “Osama bin Laden dead, Obama to announce.”

Sure enough, I googled the news on my own iTouch and discovered it to be true. Then, I looked out the window, as we passed over the bridge towards the Lincoln Tunnel, and saw the beautiful New York City skyline glistening in the night.

So that, my friends, is why I missed my 5:30 bus—I’m sure of it. I was in the right place, at the right time, to be reminded of just how proud I am to be American. And just how far we have come since that fateful day in September. My city was waiting for me to come home, and I embrace her with open arms.

Bis bald, friends!