In a time when I had no way to anticipate the year that 2020 would prove itself to be, after I had just moved to New York and was experiencing my first real winter (and with it the special mix of loneliness / excitement / longing that only the city can conjure), I created a physical New Years packet for the first time in my life for the simple reason that I missed my friends.

I had no idea that it would be possibly years before I would see them again. That the doozy of a year that I predicted was so much scarier and more difficult and more heartbreaking than that silly word could ever capture. That intentions and moon phases held less weight when futures were uncertain and time was an endless repeating loop. That it wasn’t luck that we needed, but compassion, cooperation, courage, empathy, a lot of hard work, and definitely some to-go beers.

Here’s to making it to the other side.