“Oh my god,” McKenzie said, as I stepped up to her desk. “How was the party?”

“It was so, so fun,” I said.

“Aw, I’m so glad,” she said, then she pointed at the little pile by her laptop. “Thank you for the coasters.” She hadn’t been able to make it to the party because she’d had to go on a last minute work trip. This annoyed us both. So I’d left her some NQAC coasters I’d had made for the event, so she could feel like she’d been a part of things.

“You’re welcome,” I said. “They’re so cute, right?!”

“So cute!” she said.

“I didn’t put many out at the bar because I just wanted to hoard them for myself. Not a very strong marketing plan on my part.”

She laughed. “So you had a good time.”

“I really did,” I said. And then I told her some of the highlights.

“That sounds amazing!” she said, as she tightened the scarf around her neck. It is always freezing in McKenzie’s area of the office.

“It was,” I said, and then sighed. “But I’m…” I shook my head. “I’m having some trouble writing about it.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” I said and looked down at my nails. My party manicure was already chipping. “It’s just that it wasn’t just the party itself, you know? The party was, to me, the culmination of the whole year – the breakup, starting the blog, the new job, I don’t know. It all hit me this weekend and I felt sort of overwhelmed by it all.”

“I can understand that,” she said.

I folded my arms across my chest to keep in the warmth. “When I went to work on it, it just wasn’t coming together. Everything was just so jumbled in my head and I couldn’t focus. I couldn’t do it all justice. It just was…just…”

“Too soon,” she said, nodding.

“Yes. Yes, exactly.”

“That makes sense.”

“I mean, I got so frazzled I had to go watch ‘Bachelor in Paradise,’ just to clear my head.”

“Oh my god!” our co-worker, Lacy, exclaimed from her desk. “I’m so behind!”

“Well, you better get on it,” I said. “Last night, one of the girls ran off into the jungle and had a total breakdown.”

“I wonder what you do in that case,” Lacy said thoughtfully, as she adjusted her parka. “I mean, do you just come out and own it? And be like, ‘Yep, just had a breakdown in a jungle. As you were.'”

“Totally,” I said. “You’ve just gotta be like, ‘Look. If you haven’t had a breakdown in a jungle, you haven’t really lived.'”

We all laughed.

I turned back to McKenzie. “So you think it’s okay if I don’t post about the party this week?”

“Oh, yeah,” she replied, and wrapped her hands around her hot tea.  “You’ll feel better if you just wait until you can do it right.”

“Okay, thanks,” I said and smiled.

I started off towards the pantry to get a seltzer and then I turned to Lacy. “And you,” I said and pointed at her. “Let me know when you’re caught up so we can discuss.”

“Will do,” she said, waving at me.

So. That’s what happened this week.

See you all next Thursday. When, I will actually post about the party. 🙂

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