Yet another post about my adventures while in NYC for RWA National Conference in New York City.

When you tink about a big city like New York, the concept of community is probably not the first thing to come to mind. At least not before words like traffic, noise, bright lights, steel and stone, etc.

In actuality, I learned last week that like most large cities — or groups — it’s a huge conglomerate of communities with boarders and definitions. There’s the financial district, the fashion district, and the theater district (to name a few) These communities have the common ground of interests, but others are defined by culture.  Two of the most popular in Manhattan are Chinatown and Little Italy: both were on our site-seeing list.

It was late morning by the time we found ourselves walking the quaint little streets accented with flowers and bordered with green, white and red flags. The temperature was rising and the hours of exploring the little neighborhoods had made all of us a little weary…not to mention hungry! Someone had the brilliant idea to stop for a cannoli and a cup of coffee.

You would think that would be an easy find.

Had it been an hour later, we would have had our pick of places, but is was still a bit early for the numerous restaurants (best known for their lunch and dinner fare) to open.  Just when we though we’d have to endure another forty-five minutes of the peaking late June sun,we were reminded of old world hospitality.

As we stood in front of Umberto’s Clam Shack, staring longingly at the menu posted in the window, a kind young man opened the doors and his restaurant early to give three female tourists a seat and a treat that was surely sent from heaven.

I could spend paragraphs here trying to explain the rich, full taste and the smooth texture wrapped in the crisp, sweet shell…but it would never do that pastry justice. Besides, this post was about community.

In this day and age, it’s rare that someone will reach out to a stranger with an act of kindness. You might say that my story isn’t a description of that scenario; that the Clam Shack is a business, and he was caring for customers. However, we were shooed away from one outside seating area where we’d planned to sit, people watch, and wait for the cafe to open. So, I argue that there is a sense of old world value and antiquated kindness in reaching out and inviting people in, whether it’s a restaurant or a home.

And it was the best cannoli I have ever had or could ever hope to have again.