Cocktail Parties

I remember several years of going to cocktail parties where people would ask me what was new in my life, and I wouldn't have an answer. I was in graduate school, working full-time, dating the same guy, etc.  Life was uneventful.  People look very disappointed when you don't have an answer to their question of "What's new?".  I dreaded it, and felt a lot of pressure to make things up.  But, I would just look into my drink, shrug my shoulders, and answer "Nothing, really" (or give a really lame response) before asking what was new for them.  Inevitably, I'd hear about their engagement, or wedding, or childbirth.  This may have been the period in my life where I really learned to appreciate wine.

Of course, I realize that no one was trying to make me feel like my life was stagnant, staid or boring.  And I am sure I've asked the same question to hundreds of people, unwittingly scrutinizing their appetite for change.  But, the question consistently served to remind me that I felt like my life wasn't going forward in the way I wanted it to.

Now I've made changes that have accumulated over the years, with a unique blend of stability, constancy and newness.  I've moved forward in a direction that I love, and I appreciate the moments of peace and the feeling of being more settled.  I'd like to go back to those cocktail parties and answer differently.  I'd imply that new things were on the way.  I know that now, if I ever get to the point where I'm at a cocktail party and have nothing new to report, I'll look down and say "Nothing" and then I'll look up, make eye contact, smile and say "Yet", all the while enjoying my glass of wine.