This year has been so many things, it’s exhausting to reconsider them all. It’s been so specific and strange and tragic that I imagine it will seem even more removed when we finally emerge from it. Michael and I have talked quite a bit on the podcast about lessons we hope continue beyond the shadow of 2020. Essentially, a close attention and appreciation to relationships, with our family and friends, but also our cities and the businesses we support. 

In a way, this year drew a clear line about how we want to interact with the world. Solving those issues is not going to be easy. But I do think it’s good to look for meaning in the things we do everyday. I think people are reassessing their priorities, and there’s been a lot of consideration about work and the office and the reflexivity that keeps some people from doing more unsteady, if rewarding, freelance work. It will be interesting to see if people start to work on more personal projects. 

One thing that’s struck me over the course of the year is an appreciation of the mundane and the extraordinary. I think about simple daily rituals that I miss, in some cases it’s just passing the dignified man who works at the newsstand on Seventh Avenue at Christopher Street. I also miss rarefied things that were barely a part of my life. I’ve been thinking of Venice, of canals, of the velvet-lined walls of fine hotels there, of the fish market, of Tintoretto paintings. Yes, all of this is part of the world and it’s understandable to want to be close to it again. 

And people. It’s in our nature to share things. Writing The Contender this year was a way to stay connected to people; it also helped me understand the conflicting emotions of being in isolation. It was good to be reminded that we’re not struggling through this alone and that missing things wasn’t strange or selfish. That’s not a substitute for being out in the world—how could it be? 

After a fast, the first meal tastes better than ever. Hopefully, the new year will find us wiser, kinder, more aware and more vital. 

We made it this far. 

See you on the other side.