The End Of 2017 And The Beginning Of 2018

Another year has come and gone, and here we are—still living abroad. Our friends and family are thousands of miles away, and sadly, that distance has quietly widened the gap between us.

But over time, we've made one good friend and her boyfriend who’ve shown us an unexpected kind of kindness—something we hadn’t experienced from anyone else here. Naturally, they’ve become part of our lives and were there to celebrate four of my favorite holidays with us.

No matter if it’s Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year’s, we always try to pick up a few extra decorations to keep the festive spirit going.

Alright, so I fudged up the mouth. Sue me! 

For Halloween, Melisa and her (then) boyfriend came over for a ghoulishly good time. It was our second year celebrating with them. Last year’s Halloween had been a bit of a mess—we’d been robbed not long before, so the mood was understandably off. But this year, things felt different. We were in a much more festive spirit.

Thanksgiving was a bit of a snag. Don’t get me wrong—Zach and I still celebrated—but Melisa was going through a breakup at the time. We knew it would be hard for both of them to be in the same space, and choosing who to invite felt impossible. In the end, we decided to keep it simple and spend the holiday on our own.

It was just the two of us, but we made the best of it. I helped Zach with the cooking, even though I had to work that day—my boss is Argentine, and of course, Thanksgiving isn’t celebrated here, so getting time off wasn’t an option.

Thanks to the magic of digital streaming, we were able to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade—though in the afternoon, since it airs live in the morning back home. We also watched A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, which neither of us had seen since we were kids.

For Christmas, we knew we wanted to celebrate with others. To make it work, we spent Christmas Eve with Melisa's ex, and Christmas Day with Melisa.

On New Year’s Eve, we rang in the holiday on our own. Thanks again to digital streaming, we were able to watch the ball drop in Times Square. Since New York is two hours behind us during daylight savings, we stayed up until 2 a.m. to officially welcome in 2018.

On January 5th, our friend Melisa came over for a belated New Year’s celebration. So, we wrapped up 2017 and kicked off 2018 on a good note.

But then, on January 6th, something terrifying happened...

To be continued...