LETTER OF THE WEEK: DEAR 2005

Dear 2005:

Happy almost New Year! It's been quite a year. Some of it good. Some bad. People died. Pets got sick. Friends were engaged. Married. We were married. Trips to Mexico. Guatemala. Maine. Babies were born. Promotion and more writing. Photos. Lots of parties. Wine & Whining. Family reunions. There was pie. BBQs on the back porch. Brooklyn fireflies. This is our life I am realizing. It is like reaching for a favorite coffee mug - the one with a chip. It's not perfect but boy do you still go for that same mug each and every time. You know how sometimes there is lipstick on the rim from a mediocre, previous wash? You drink anyway don't you. Big gulps.

2005. Big scary bad things happened. Tsunami. Katrina. Iraq. Example: you know how you see or hear news updates on Iraq? A plastic newsperson with frozen hair and pancake makeup sharing a sad frown? Cut to brief footage of flashes of guns going off and tanks. Back to sad news anchor frown. Then cut to a breaking story about statues of Brad, Angelina AND Jennifer Aniston all being put in the same room at a wax museum and oh my god is everyone going to be ok????? And then a commercial runs for a Lunchables meal where Moms or Dads can rip plastic off the top of a non-recyclable container and serve and prepare their kid a fresh PBJ while they are inside watching TV?

Well enough of that garbage. Life is not a dress rehearsal people. You are cool and amazing and powerful individuals. You are lucky. Some of you are healthy. Some of you have money. This is the real deal. Remind yourself and most importantly one another now and again what is real - even if it makes you uncomfortable.

This is my rant for 2005. And now it is over.

Have vision.
Take action.

Starting now...

KEYS TO A GOOD PARTY

Nothing screams AWESOME PARTY (E and S's bday) like...LOTS OF DRINKS...

an amazing cake from A...


and duh...a Banana Guard

Yes it fits all shapes. So don't ask.

GOOD TO BE HOME

So Christmas is over. I waited 15 minutes in my office lobby because I forgot my ID card and had to have someone come down and let me in. Then I got a coffee. Then I spilled it. The above photo sums up my morning. I couldn't help but take a photo of it before cleaning it up. A co-worker from my office made the mistake of asking (pre-coffee), "How was your holiday?" to which I vomited,

"2 hour drive to LI. No less than 30 family members in a room at one time for 2 days. Hour plus ferry ride to CT. Then a 3 hour car trip to visit friend's newborn baby in MA. Another few hours drive to E's family in NH. Then E's bday. 6 plus hour plus drive home last night. Woke up at 7am to come to work. Tonight is E's joint bday party with a friend. And you?"

You know it's bad when the person responds, "Wow. Ok...well sorry to hear it. Try and have a good day!" and walks away.

I wasn't meaning for it to sound bad because it wasn't. In fact I think we both had a lovely time. I just can't say that it was the world's most relaxing few days off I've ever had. Is it ever? For anyone? It's strange to come back to the office and recall sitting here looking at that same stack of papers before you left feeling just as tired then as you do now after a few days off. I seem to be the only one feeling this however as everyone around me shares stories involving "reading tons of books", "watching bad TV" and "lots and lots of sleep". Huh?

I think the greatest part of seeing family members especially for E and I is how great but different they both are. My family is LOUD. They are IRISH. My uncle told the story recently that he had to have a friend help him take out the recycling from the house and his friend grunted when lifting the cans, "UGH! Must be an Irish household!" We tell lots of stories. Loud, funny stories. People talk on top of one another. There are barking dogs. A cat. At one point we are eating and drinking and opening gifts and my uncle runs into the room with a bloody towel wrapped around his wrist having just got a nasty, huge piece of wood stabbed through his hand when going up the porch railing. I kid you not when I say from across the room I watched him run from person to person before the third - my father - actually stopped talking and laughing about something else responded to my unlce. My dad jumped up from the couch and they sped off to the local hospital. Uncle J called from the hospital - fine - on his dying cell phone. His wife my aunt said, "Bring home extra pain medication!!!". Half kidding.

Then we went to E's house. We arrived and jazz was playing on the kitchen stereo. E's dad poured us a lovely cold white wine while he finished making us a delicious sausage risotto. His step-mother made warm oatmeal cookies. His brother and I talked about photography and one day we watched him play squash. We had a lovely, quiet dinner both nights laughing and having a good time together. So nice. So different. I went to bed in a huge bed - pet and allergy free - and slept so long I thought it might be another year by the time I woke up. As we packed the car to go home I realized it had been an entire 48 hours since I'd heard a pop culture reference.

Overall it was a great time and I hope tonight even better. There will be a joint bday party for E and our friend S and hopefully lots of merry friends. Good to be home.

DRIVE 2

click image

GAMMA GEE

Look out blog world. She's back. My sister AKA Gamma Gee is back and blogging. Blog life will never be as it was before.

I like to think of my sister as a hip and cool woman with her finger on the pulse of all of NY's finest. However the chick has yet to own or use a computer since they were invented. This year my parents got her a laptop. Normally I would be jealous and sister-like and never say out loud but stew for years in therapy thinking WHAT ABOUT MY LAPTOP but for once I was excited. When she unwrapped her Christmas gift - her new laptop - we all clustered around her and said, "This...is called a com...pu...ter. It's part of modern technology. You can do things like go on the www or stay in touch via something called email with your family and friends."

Because I am a big geek and a fan of her writing we set her up with a blog immediately. She decided to call it 'Gamma Gee' her childhood name for 'glamour girl' a nickname we gave her since the age of zero when she began wearing jewelry, lipstick, my mother's high heels and saying her favorite childhood word (and I'm not kidding) 'mansion'.

It's great to have her back. Just don't read her blog more than mine.
Ok. Bye.