Caterwauling

Anyone who knows me understands that my car is my temple. While I must live with the fact that my Samantha is dirty right now because of the snow, salt and sand on the roads (with more to come tonight. Whee), her insides are always immaculate. Even the trunk is organized!

However, after the past week of practically living in my car, a quick inventory revealed:

6 Coffee Containers (two from 7-11, one from Dunkin Donuts, two from Starbucks and one from home). Two have liquid in them. *squick*

10 acrylic nails (unceremoniously ripped from my fingers whilst sitting in traffic one night; they’re in one of the 7-11 cups)

3 pairs of high-heeled, sparkly Cinderella-type shoes for various events and some spares just in case I changed my mind

2 “spare” semi-formal outfits in case the others didn’t work out as planned for this week’s two holiday parties

2 sparkly headbands

6 barrettes

2 necklaces

3 pairs of earrings

1 bracelet

4 McDonald’s bags

2 Dunkin Donuts bags

1 Taco Bell bag

1 box of instant oatmeal — INSIDE a Godiva Chocolatier bag

2 tubes of lip gloss

1 menthol cough drop

1 abandoned cell phone

3 bags from Hecht’s (a May Company — er, Federated now)

94 napkins from varying food establishments

17 CDs, most of which are skipping and I’ve since thrown them into the abyss known as the backseat

and …

1 Post-It Note I wrote in traffic, saying: “Do we simply just get through this, or do we make it count? Which memory would we rather have?”

Actually, I took that last one into my office, so that’s one less thing I have to clean out of the car tonight!

Had the second of two work-related holiday parties last night. Got home at 1 a.m. (as opposed to only making it to Tuesday night’s event for a paltry 45 minutes before everyone jetted out at 7 p.m.), so I’d say last night’s was the better of the two. 😉

One of my buds used the phrase “wine shine” to describe how he was feeling at the time. And I loved it and had to use it as this entry title. 😉

As the handful of us who were still standing at the end of the night hung out and laughed and listened to stories, I realized that “wine shine” is indeed a perfect descriptor. Everyone looks prettier, everything is funnier, and there’s just a special level of genuineness that comes out when the world is turning through a slightly wine-tinted haze.

Even though I was sober, I realized I smiled a lot more than I usually do — I even laughed more and definitely hugged more people. Because I don’t do enough of that. I really don’t have people to talk to or to hug, and I wish I could remedy that somehow but really don’t know where to start.

The thing is, you come out of rare and wonderful gatherings like that, and you realize how much time you’ve wasted in your life. You reflect briefly on the people and places that siphoned too much of your energy in comparison with the people and places that now give you back your spirit.

You come to understand that feeling good really shouldn’t only be reserved for special occasions. And that while you’re lucky to get these glimpses of how life’s supposed to be, you rack your brain for ways to, if not always feel so good, then to find ways to make happy moments occur more frequently. So, of course, you don’t forget *how* to be happy, as so often happens.

And you wonder how to prolong the shine, but the least you can do is hope that, while you were busy being in awe of everything and everyone during those precious moments, they might have noticed that you were having the time of your life, too, just by being near them. Because you can’t wait till the next time, whenever it may be, to feel so alive again.