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I had never heard so many people say they had never needed a drink more than today.
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And I used to work with a bunch of artists.
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A holiday party: after a day that was so desperate to put off work all around. Work that heaps on our shoulders and we look the other way.
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Today, we looked the other way, towards the bar, the dance floor, on a carpet no less.
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I don’t dance on carpet, but I do drink, and moving around the room with a glass of Pinot Grigio with varying degrees of half-full/half-emptiness and passed hors d'oeuvres as opposed to the usual lasagna I have known, I come across enough opinions and vocalizations – due, in part, to the stress of the past few months coupled with the Pinot – to write a book.
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And we deserve more than a conga line and some house wine. We probably won’t ever get what we deserve, and we know this.
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And so we keep calm and carry on. That’s what the sign on me and my boss’ wall says, and which always gets a mention anytime anyone sees it.
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(The fact that we both have it on our walls is part of the reason we get along so well.)
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And so we drink and dance the afternoon away as a way to forget, for a minute, what we don’t even know will come in the new year.
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And people tell me how cute I look today, and that’s bullshit, we’re all so incredibly beautiful.
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But it’s nice to hear anyway. We all need to hear it more now, now more than ever.
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And friends, I feel sympathy for all of you and feel the same sympathy coming back to me every day.
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And it feels nice, it does. It really does.
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We hold on, and wait, and wonder, and worry.
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And we carry on.
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And I know we are all wonderful at what we do. I see it every day.
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And I know we'll end up alright.
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And I wish you a Merry Christmas.
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