G
For
Claire
&
James
Saturday
,
May
16, 2026 ·
The
Barn
at
Hillcrest
,
Rhinebeck
,
New
York
ood
evening
,
everyone
.
For
those
of
you
who
don
’
t
know
me
,
I
’
m
Maya
Patel
—
Claire
’
s
friend
,
former
coworker
,
and
,
for
the
past
five
years
,
the
unofficial
caretaker
of
her
office
plant
.
Claire
and
I
met
on
my
first
day
at
Fletcher
&
Rowe
.
I
was
new
,
I
was
nervous
,
and
I
had
no
idea
where
the
coffee
machine
was
.
Claire
was
the
first
person
to
walk
over
and
introduce
herself
.
She
showed
me
where
everything
was
,
warned
me
about
the
printer
on
the
third
floor
,
and
told
me
which
meetings
you
could
safely
skip
.
By
the
end
of
that
week
,
I
knew
I
’
d
found
my
person
—
at
work
,
and
it
turns
out
,
everywhere
else
.
That
’
s
Claire
.
She
has
a
quiet
way
of
making
everything
feel
easier
—
a
stressful
deadline
,
a
bad
day
,
a
wedding
that
requires
two
hundred
decisions
before
Friday
.
Everyone
in
this
room
has
been
on
the
receiving
end
of
her
kindness
.
And
everyone
in
this
room
has
,
at
some
point
,
been
on
the
receiving
end
of
one
of
her
spreadsheets
.
Our
friendship
started
in
a
windowless
conference
room
,
and
somehow
,
years
later
,
it
brought
us
here
.
So
when
Claire
told
me
about
James
,
I
paid
attention
.
I
’
d
never
seen
her
smile
quite
like
that
—
the
one
that
appeared
every
time
she
said
his
name
.
And
I
knew
this
one
was
different
.
James
,
thank
you
.
Thank
you
for
making
her
laugh
so
hard
she
snorts
.
Thank
you
for
loving
her
exactly
the
way
she
deserves
to
be
loved
.
And
thank
you
for
taking
over
as
her
emergency
contact
—
the
paperwork
is
already
filed
.
Claire
,
my
only
advice
for
married
life
is
the
same
advice
I
gave
you
at
work
:
you
don
’
t
have
to
do
everything
perfectly
.
You
just
have
to
show
up
.
And
you
have
always
,
always
shown
up
for
the
people
you
love
.
Now
you
get
to
show
up
for
each
other
,
every
single
day
.
So
please
,
raise
your
glasses
with
me
.
“
To
Claire
and
James
—
may
your
life
together
be
long
,
your
arguments
be
short
,
and
your
coffee
always
be
strong
.”
Maya
Patel
M AID
O F
H O N O R
1 / 1
