Hartbeat Holidays

Dan and I are back in Hartford this week, where it all began before life and work took us to Northampton, North Adams and eventually San Francisco. Our first date was at Koji, where we also spent Thanksgiving during the Blizzard o’ 2005. Sushi and cranberry cocktails, followed by a day of decking out Dan’s Capitol Ave brownstone with tinsel while listening to Otis Redding.

Subsequent Thanksgivings were spent around a bonfire in Paul Smith’s New York with the Leifheits (2006), in Paris with Dave and Mila (2007), and last year we were apart—I had just finished my cross-country move and spent UnThanksgiving on Alcatraz, followed by dinner with Dan’s uncle Jim in the Castro.

It is an Anderson family tradition that the best holidays are also the most unpredictable, but after three years of improvising I can’t wait to reunite with family and friends in all the old familiar places.