It's A Wonderful Life, Thanks For The Wings

Can anyone argue that the best part of work-from-home days [other than the fact that such an option exists at all] is that here and there, you can take an elongated coffee break?

Yesterday, for example, I spent all morning sorting through work emails so that once afternoon came along, I could take a field trip with my roommate Susan to the old-fashioned Castro Theater to see It's A Wonderful Life (with a detour for hot cocoa, did you even assume otherwise). Let me tell ya, if there's an older movie you've been meaning to watch, but keep on neglecting because corny 14%-on-Rotten-Tomatoes Netflix rom com's are so much more tempting (guilty)... find yourself an old fashioned theater and fix that problem right up for yourself.

It was wonderful. I loved it. I teared up spectacularly, especially at that final scene. But you all know that, I'm sure, because you are lightyears ahead of me on this front, I just know it. 

Oh, but that "Remember no man is a failure who has friends" SPOILER ALERT: ...

"thanks for the wings..." REALLY brought on the waterworks.

Because this year had its toughies, that's for sure. For months, I saw my best friends come home every day, in tears. I saw them make one of the hardest decisions of their lives. But I also saw them emerge, stronger and more admirable than ever. I saw them stand their ground, saw the very, very best qualities of their characters. And after all those tears? Well, we drowned sorrows with dinners together every night and a fair bit of tequila too.

Alas, there were other medicines quite bitter to swallow. Graduating without a job lined up because I wanted to hold out for one that I found to be meaningful. Crashing on friends' couches for a month because well, see above. Apartment searching in the most hopeless of cities for apartment searches. But I was lucky. I had couches on which to crash, I had people to karaoke with at 1am and people to grab bagels with the next day. Those little moments were the ones that affirmed my decision to stay in SF. It gave me the comfort blanket that I never knew I needed. I had friends who I could call at 3pm on a Wednesday with whom I could commiserate. They have gotten more than one distraught phone call from me about how I haven't gotten out of bed all day and hey, I think I might be depressed. And they'd be kind and encouraging and all, let's pick out an outfit for next week's interview!

My tribe hugged me tight and climbed into bed with me when I heard that my grandpa died, and stole me away for midday coffees. They remained sympathetic when they received the eightieth text update that MY TRAIN IS AN HOUR LATE TO MY FIRST DAY OF WORK. They called to make sure I didn't miss my alarm. Not only did they not get mad when I asked them to leave work early and drop my favorite sweater off on their way to the airport, but they insisted it'd be a good time to get pho as well [okay this happened ONE TIME, LEAH I APOLOGIZE].  

There were happier times too. All of those dinners together every night senior year (enchilada night in particular was sacred) are memories I'll hold precious till the end. The nights we went out dancing, and those we stayed in to watch TV [like... 360 days out of 365]. 
(Lauren! Look away!) (Cassandra, you too!) 
Sending each other the same Christmas presents. Guess we've gotten predictable. Decorating stockings. Making brunch together – okay as you can see, they made brunch... and I... snuck bits of bacon. They never did trust me with a stove. Fancifying ourselves, ever so rarely. The gronsie (gray sweatshirt + gray sweatpants) days. New jobs! Law school! Medical school. Shiny, money-makin' CS master's degrees. New relationships! Getting lucky with a wonderful apartment! Together! Plus new, fun roommates on top of that! Traveling the world. Continuing to learn. Weddings! Piling onto one bed together, all the time. 
2015 was a transitional year, which makes it a tumultuous one. Good tumultuous, for the most part. Bittersweet tumultuous, most definitely. But you know, when we threw our caps in the air that morning in June and said goodbye to the lives that we were used to – or let's say we did because for some reason, that gesture was forgotten this year! – we said hello to a whole newwwwww wooooorld, with some ride or dies who were doing the exact same thing. And that's everything.
Thank you for giving me wings this year. 
Love, Clarence