“What we know of other people is only our memory of the moments during which we knew them.” -T.S. Eliot
—
It all started with a year-end reflection. A few questions about dreams and goals and closing the door on a pretty shitty winter. Albeit, closing the door while enjoying the warm bubbles of a hot tub and the cold fizz of champaign. Just two women trying to navigate adulthood through a cloudy winter in a city they both adored but wasn’t being a particularly good friend to them that season.
It all started with a desire to grow. To foster relationships, move outside their comfort zones, and to invite others into the warmth they had been desperately trying to create. They had been building homes and shaking off their former selves. It seemed ripe timing to explore something new. To branch out. To brave this new season and chart a path that was aligned with a truer self.
It all started with a single invitation. A few new friends. A few strangers. And a companion in the process. Growth, they knew, was never as scary when you held hands. And so it started.
Cocktails.
Monthly, without pause, and despite changing jobs and travels and new and old traumas, we committed our homes to these gatherings. Strangers became friends. Friends became lovers. Guests became family. All throughout the year, we brought one another together each month to laugh and cheer for the unfolding of our lives - with a cocktail in our hands.
Over twelve-months, we achieved so many goals, and a few of those dreams, that seemed so far away that cold December day in that hot tub. A testament to friendship, support, companionship, and a little faith that things would turn around for our hearts.
If ever I forget, please remind me that 2018 was the year of the cocktail. And what a glorious year it was.