At some point yesterday, I decided to put that short dress on and make this year’s New Year’s Eve celebration a spontaneous and unforced one, a much better alternative than cancelling the night to stay in and listen to music. I think that every reason to dance and celebrate life should be taken, ending a fantastic year and starting a new one is reason enough, no matter how uncertain the future seems to be.

So, a friend picked me up and we had our own little pre-party where I kept him company while he was ironing his shirt and choosing the right watch. Then I took a short walk from his house just to find myself in a fantastic dinner with a group of people I had never met before, invited by this new friend I very briefly met in Mozambique. The food was amazing, so were the hosts and after a couple of hours I took another short walk and got into another unknown apartment where Josie welcomed me with a hug and the world’s best dessert. There was a countdown, midnight struck, friends called. And then I grabbed Camila and we were taken to a some kind of secret nightclub none of us had ever heard of. We danced to dancehall, reggaeton and other kinds of backbeat tunes until the clock turned five. I jumped into a cab, got home without any fuss, and concluded that it had all been simple, unplanned and great in its own way.

I guess there’s no need to make it extraordinary every year.