What Was the Deal with 2009?

We watched the ball drop at our friends Mike and Sarah’s house on New Years Eve. We’d just had a lovely dinner—Todd whipped up a prime rib and I nibbled on a chicken pot pie, as I don’t care for beef—and we were discussing the last year and the last decade in the last few minutes of 2009.

“What was your favorite part of 2009?” Todd asked me.  I don’t think I could answer that question with just one particular moment, even at gunpoint.

I can just imagine how that would go down, being asked that question at gunpoint. The bad guys would lock me in some sort of dingy room with a bright light shining on me. All I would be able to see is their silhouettes against the blinding light. At this point they probably would have deprived me of sleep and, God forbid, pie. They would pace in exasperation in and out of the light, wringing their hands and threatening to hit me with them. I’d flinch every time and they’d sneer at me.

“Tell me,” one of them would say in an unidentifiable accent, while brandishing a lit and glowing cigarette precariously close to my cheek, “Vat vas ze best part of 2009?” And I’d start crying because I wouldn’t be able to name just one thing. I’d rattle off a bunch of things, and then they’d throw a folding metal chair at the filthy cinderblock walls and scream at me to tell them just one.

And here’s what I’d say.

1. In 2009 I fed an elephant. And a giraffe.

Todd feeding an elephant.  Did you know that they have 80,000 muscles in their trunk?  I didn't.  Now I do, and so do you.

Me feeding the giraffe.  And then I was drooled on by that same giraffe.  I'd forgotten an umbrella that day.

2. We went to Discovery Cove in Florida, which was the first stop on our 3 week honeymoon blitz back in 2003.

3. We dove the New England Aquarium in Boston, and played with all the animals in the tank.

4. We got Sabine repainted. And she looked great. She even sailed better, and I think it was out of pride.

5. We sailed for only a week this year. But still, it was a wonderful week where we still sailed to places we hadn’t been. We played, as a family, on a sandbar at low tide.

Todd, Griffen and Nemo on the sandbar in Westport, Massachusetts.

Me and Griffen on the sandbar in Westport.

Griffen dozing on my lap.  I just want to rub the short fuzzy hair on his snout, don't you?

Nemo navigating. 

6. We saw Willy Porter in concert.  Twice.  In the same night.  Then I got inspired by how much fun Willy looked like he was having, and then I played my guitar for about five minutes afterward.  I mean, look at him!  Don't you just want to pick up a guitar, play some amazing riff and sing flawlessly too?

Photo from guildguitar.com

7. We went to the Berkshires in December, and stayed in a spa resort where we got a couple’s massage. But we cracked jokes to each other the entire time. There’s nothing more relaxing than receiving a blissful deep tissue massage and laughing at the same time.


8. We bought a dive boat, and dove off it a few times in the summer. Or we just took it out and cruised around the bay, or at the lake in our town, Podunk. This spring we’ll have to fix the electrical system so we won’t get electrocuted while touching the throttle handle if it’s wet. But other than that, good times.

Now, let’s get on to making 2010 even more awesome.