Dear SantaCon,
It's been awhile. How have you been? I would say a miss you but we both know it wouldn't be the same if we met up for a drink or...sixteen. We've grown apart and that is okay. However, I will always love the time we shared. Remember in 2016? I wore that green onesie with light bulbs all over it to stand out from the sea of red and white. I woke up at 5:30 AM just to impress you. I washed and blew out my hair before the sun was up. And I was in the Wagner Water Polo team's suite before 7 AM with Peppermint Schnapps in hand.
In 2017, I upgraded the game because I had missed us so much. I was dressed
even earlier and went with a tradiational Santa onsie. Svedka in tow, I was with football in E2 of Towers before most people's alarms were going off. I was so happy to be living that life with you, at that time. I'm beyond thankful for the 9 AM Staten Island Ferry ride to the chaos that ensues below 14th Street. Fiddlesticks? I'm there. The Liberty NYC? Let's get lost and pay too much for a watered down drink. Penny Farthing? Yes, I totally wanna meet a 23 year old to my 19 and think he's soooo mature.
You gave me some core memories with people that I will always hold space and love for. You gave me something to go wild for in college because we all know Wagner wasn't known for it's football tailgates or frat house basements. SantaCon, you were one of those big college days like a HoCo or a championship game for all of us Wagner Seahawks.
However, I am pushing 27 and our relationsip has run its course. I got the group text, "sooo we doing SantaCon this year?" and three of the four replied that we're working. I didn't even think to request it off. I didn't think that we'd be spending time together, SantaC.
It's like running into an old boyfriend (when the breakup was amicable) and smiling / waving from a distance. You recall the posotive, and very rarely remember the negative. I LOOOOOVED every second of prouncing around downtown Manhattan. I laugh at the memory of somehow waking up in The Bronx on the morning after. I'm fond of the song I Took A Pill In Ibiza and will remember it blasting from every bar stereo. I'm blacking out the thoughts of tracking friends and loosing them during moves to next bars. I've removed the vomit sidewalks and crying drunk girls from my memory...kinda.
SantaCon, thank you for those years that you served me. And despite what most of New York thinks, I hope you contine so another group of college kids can look back and say "man, that was fun but bro...we can't do it again."
Love you as big as the sky,
Clare
