End of Fire Drill. Feeling Much Better.
Friday Night, 2001, Cleveland Park, Two Gin and Tonics
I’m Darren Samuelsohn, and this is what Sundays look like at love, journalism — a dispatch from the notebook, unfiltered, from whatever year I happened to be living in.
Today’s edition exists because of Writing Down the Bones - a book that’s been with me for 30 years. BONUS: My new conversation with Natalie Goldberg on The love, journalism Show — the author who published this seminal writing guide 40 years ago.
June 27, 2001: Washington — Unusually down. The car needs expensive repairs just to pass DC safety and emissions standards.
Buddhism creeping in.
Friday night. Two gin and tonics. Isolated in the back room of an empty café in Cleveland Park.
“This is actually not a drill. This is a full fledged loneliness attack.”
“Is my life everything I want it to be? No. I am thrilled with my work. But it ends when I leave the office.”
“Should I give up then? No. Should I rest? Yes. End of fire drill. Feeling much better.”
Twenty-five years ago yesterday. The woman I’d marry was out there somewhere. I had no idea.