Beginning 2020 in Sydney, Australia by Tim Ghazzawi:
A drag queen leaned against the bar. She wore a pink dress patterned in glittery polka dots and a dramatic blonde wig that made her seem both imposing and fun. “I’ll meet you at the bank,” our friend had texted us. Turns out “the bank” was a restaurant, this restaurant, which hosts drag trivia with Felicity Frockaccino on Monday nights. As my brother and I waited at a table for Dave, perplexed by his choice for dinner, my thoughts were flooded with memories from two years ago.
The first time I met Dave he was shouting instructions at me and the other passengers on our boat. He’d just arrived in South America from his home country of Australia and was undoubtedly excited for the adventure that awaited us – a five-day hike through Chilean Patagonia. Though Dave spoke almost no Spanish, his instructions were loud and entertaining and bold. All in the name of taking a selfie. Five days later and my brother and I had grown so grateful for Dave’s loose and live sense of humor, saying goodbye to him was intensely sad. Two years later and I wondered if and how things would be different.
We met Dave this time on his turf in Newtown, the grungy cool neighborhood west of downtown Sydney. As we would discover, The Bank also runs a quiet open-air garden in the restaurant’s rear, away from the buzzy bar scene out front. Dave was seated alone there with a beer already half-finished when we saw him again. We hugged and laughed and for the next many hours shared stories about everything that had happened to us since we last saw one another. Our reunion was silly and spontaneous, all the way into the vegan Vietnamese restaurant we found ourselves in late that night. And though we inevitably parted ways, saying goodbye felt less sad and less permanent this time around. Our friendship more enduring than we ever thought it would be.
New Years resolutions are a much-disputed thing. Some people swear by them. Others swear them off. I personally like them. They’re grounding and reflective for me, personal and yet unifying with those making lists of their own. I accomplished a lot of resolutions in 2019. I quit my job, traveled the world, and started writing more. All big big changes in my life. As I begin 2020, however, I’m thinking less about making big changes and focusing more on maintaining what’s already known and good. To my credit, 2020 is off to a successful start. From dinner with my old friend Dave to exploring Sydney with my brother and oldest friend Adam, the familiar has served me well thus far. So cheers to the daring and new this year but even more so to the simple and routine. I might not be the most diligent recycler but I’ve certainly grown to learn the value of something old turned new.
P.S. This post’s main photograph is of Luna Park, a 1935 amusement park since refurbished and now government-protected at its site in Sydney Harbour. Talk about recycling.
