Spam.

A coworker was telling me today about how much she believed in the concept that what we’re doing as the New Year rings in is what we’ll be doing for the next year. I’d never thought much about it, and generally am not a fan of that holiday as holidays go. This time, though, she got me thinking about December 31st, 1999/January 1st, 2000.

I was so lost at that point in my life… just lonely and with no idea of what to do with myself. I had a job I enjoyed (mostly), but in a city I no longer wanted to live in (NYC) and the feeling that I no longer had any real friends since I’d left acting. I’d planned to spend New Year’s Eve with a musician friend in the D.C. area, but he was funny about it, which I finally found out meant that he wanted to keep his options open in case he got a real date. I was very hurt at the time, though later on I was able to see that I probably would have felt the same if I’d been in the mood for anything resembling a date at that point in my life (which I really was not). Needless to say, this contributed even more to my lost and lonely feeling.

I’d just about decided to spend the holiday with my parents (who lived in New Jersey at the time), when I had another sudden idea. I’d been lurking a bit at fruhead.com, the fansite for a Canadian band I’d loved for many years called Moxy Früvous. Lots of people there were going to Buffalo to ring in the New Year with the band, so about a week beforehand, I decided to rent a car, drive to Buffalo by myself, and spend the night alone at a Moxy Früvous concert. Everyone thought I was crazy. It was the best decision I could have ever made. I had a wonderful time in Buffalo. The concerts were amazing (of course). They made me remember why I loved music, and I really needed to remember that then. And everyone was friendly and funny and just exactly the people I was missing in my life. I spent the next year driving to Früvous concerts, meeting more people, and ultimately this is how I met the man who would become my husband. By the end of 2000 we were engaged, and had moved to Northampton, MA, where I am typing from now.

And it all started on New Year’s Eve. 🙂

So thanks to and for giving me something like that to think about today. I really needed it. When things are stressful, it helps to feel that whatever happens, you are just where you are meant to be.