A few days before the holiday season swept us all off our feet, Sarah the L officially invited me and Mia Wallace to a small party at her home. Other attendees were: Mr. Mikes (who was recently renamed Smoochie Poo), Smoochie Poo’s best friend Peace Corp Girl, Sarah’s sister Head, and Head’s dog Darby. Mia and I were placed in charge of snacks and some refreshments and did a marvelous job if I do say so myself. Thanks to us, the party was chock full of wine (in both bottle and jug form), top-notch champagne, cheese, bread, crackers, olives, and one extra-delicious beef stick.
To top things off, I started what I hope to be an annual tradition by giving each party guest a burned CD of my top 15 favorite songs I listened to in 2004 (called Mr. Benchly’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 2005 Super Mix):
1. Hem – Lord, Blow the Moon Out Please
2. Hem – When I Was Drinking
3. Ray Charles – It Makes No Difference Now
4. Rachael Yamagata – Worn Me Down
5. Donavon Frankenreiter – It Don’t Matter
6. Sufjan Stevens – Flint (For the Unemployed and Underpaid)
7. Rufus Wainwright – Oh What a World
8. Over the Rhine – Mary’s Waltz
9. The Beta Band – Dry the Rain
10. Ben Harper – Steal My Kisses
11. The Postal Service – The District Sleeps Alone Tonight
12. Jolie Holland – Sascha
13. Iron & Wine – Bird Stealing Bread
14. Van Morrison – Astral Weeks
15. The Innocence Mission – What a Wonderful World
Thanks to great food and great company, and in spite of starting off the evening by blindly directing Mia and our vehicle through various dark Vermont roads that led us to nowhere near Sarah the L’s apartment, the night was a thrilling success with one minor exception: those damn 90 minutes I spent passed out on the bathroom mat after having thrown up the beef stick and everything else that temporarily called my stomach “home.”
Sarah the L woke me up at around 2 a.m. (the details here are slightly fuzzy) and tucked me into bed where I promptly fell wide awake and where Mia and I stayed awake until 6 a.m. talking and laughing about anything and everything and absolutely nothing I can remember at this moment. One thing I do remember is that our laughter was both interrupted by and inspired by a late-night visit from what sounded like a mouse in the wall. Before long, Mia drifted off to sleep and I drifted off to snoring and we awoke to enjoy brunch with the rest of the group.
After viewing probably one-and-a-half-too-many episodes of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, we bid farewell to Peace Corp Girl and then ventured into B’town for Indian food and a movie. I ordered a “medium spicy” dish and after finishing half of my meal and enduring the subsequent overwhelming perspiration, our waitress smiled at me and said, “next time, mild.” Next, we watched Finding Neverland while seated in the Roxy Theatre’s second row. The movie was a tearjerker for Sarah the L and 2 hours of a sore neck for me. At this point, Mia and I said goodnight to the others, took off our shoes, and sat down on pillows in what is now one of my favorite B’town establishments: Dobra Tea. We closed down the place and headed to my apartment where Mia decided she’d rather drive home in the morning. Despite lacking the comedic inspiration of Sarah the L’s mouse, we were still able to devour the late-night hours with conversation and laughter.
Although the January 2 morning brought with it Mia’s departure from Vermont, she returned a day later and a little over a day before her impending flight home to the city so nice, they named it twice. Our plan: continue to get to know each other better than we ever could have in a high school study hall. And given our time constraints, I think we did OK. Highlights of our time together include the always reliable Henry’s Diner food, another trip to Dobra Tea (though, this time with louder and more obnoxious patrons next to us), a quick glimpse of The Triplets of Belleville, and a small but good-intentioned attempt at creating a makeshift tsunami memorial on Church Street.
For those of you who have never met Mia, know that you should be jealous of my time spent with her. She’s continually inspiring and surprising and has an uncanny knack to always clearly present that different point of view you never thought to think. She confronts her fears and is never content to settle for less than her infinite potential. And her attitude is contagious, infecting every life whose path she crosses with an unending drive to live. And so, on our deja-vu 5 a.m. trip to the airport this morning, I found myself both thankful to know her and sad that I don’t know her better than I do.
It’s now January 5, 2005 and as the new year slowly takes shape, my New Year’s celebration has finally come to an end. For the stories I’ve just shared and for the ones I’ve chosen to keep to myself, this New Year’s will be one I’ll never forget and I hope that all involved know how thankful I am for the part they played. A wise woman once told me that how you celebrate New Year’s will impact how you spend the rest of the year. If this is the case, in 2005, I’ll be surrounded by loved ones, inspired by amazing people, and motivated to do the unexpected. My hope for you is the same.
Benchly'sword 