New Year's Eve · A friend · Heartfelt · about a minute
New Year's Toast for a Friend Moving Away (About 1 Minute)
Her best friend of nine years was moving from Philadelphia to Albuquerque in the second week of January, and this New Year's party was the last time the whole group would be in one room with her.
Given by Ailsa, toasting her closest friend before a move. 142 words. The names are made up.
The toast
Before midnight, I need one minute for Zofia.
Nine years ago, she borrowed my blender for a smoothie phase that lasted about a week. I borrowed it back for soup. She borrowed it back when her mom came to visit. It has gone between our two kitchens so many times that neither of us knows whose it is anymore.
On the ninth she drives to Albuquerque. On Tuesday I'm putting the blender in her car myself. It's yours, Zofia. I'd rather it be on your counter than sitting on mine, reminding me it's a three-day drive to borrow it back.
You're the person I call about everything. That doesn't change because of a time zone. It just means you'll be getting my calls at seven in the morning.
Glasses up. To Zofia, and to the blender, which is finally going somewhere sunny.
Why it works: The blender says nine years of friendship without listing nine years of stories, and giving it away says the goodbye out loud without making it a sad speech. The time-zone joke keeps it from getting heavy right before the glasses go up.
Make it yours
Borrow the shape, not the lines. Put your own people, your own year and your own detail in each spot, or answer a few questions and get a first draft built from them.