Friday Donuts

Friends, Letting go of the people, places and passions that have shaped our lives is tough. Each is different and any analogy feels like comparing apples and origins – you read right, oranges felt too similar for such an analogy. People are obviously more important, but some places hold a special tug on our heartstrings. There is comfort in the sense of permanence they bring, shielding us from the passage of time. Which makes the void they leave behind unfillable – no matter how many donuts you eat to try to fill it. Still, life goes on and we find a way to move forward. Change is, after all, the only constant. Happy Friday!

Friends, I’m not much for using arbitrary dates to make life changes – you can do that at any time. I am, however, very much into building and burning effigies to close out the year – an Ecuadorian tradition we call Año Viejo. The theme we chose to represent 2024 was Steamboat Willie, the Disney movie whose copyright protection had been extended through the end of 2023 by the 1998 “Mickey Mouse Protection Act”. Now that he’s in the public domain, Mickey has been rebelling and doing things his parent company would not approve (a nose ring, two earrings, smoking, a public domain tattoo and an Iron Maiden logo on his hat – a nod to Paul Di’Anno’s passing in October). Despite losing his head a few times (literally, it kept falling off) we proceeded to read his last will and testament (a playful roast of the party’s attendees), pouring accelerant and lighting a match at the stroke of midnight (after the obligatory countdown, of course). If you’re curious, you can find this year’s Año Vi...