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My Favorite Essay

 My favorite essay is by Katherine Heiny; it's a love story in disguise.


Its star is Katherine, who joins a suicide prevention team (because she herself is lonely and bored). Katherine is delighted when one of the "regulars" (a woman who abuses the phone line) chooses to send eclairs; other volunteers think the pastries may be poisoned, but Katherine feels that they are delicious, "especially as they grow slightly stale." 

Taped for a news segment, Katherine accidentally fields a call from a friend, whose husband (a volunteer) has left his lunch at home. Nervous about the cameras, Katherine pretends that she is talking someone down from suicide. "How do you feel about your situation? No matter how intense the pain is, know that you will not always feel this way...."

In my favorite scene, Katherine attends an AA meeting. (A brief study of AA is a requirement of suicide prevention training.) Slowly, Katherine sees that she recognizes most of the people from her neighborhood bar, Toby's--and (via subtext) Katherine realizes that she herself is *also* an alcoholic.

At the climax of the story, Katherine attends a holiday party for Samaritans volunteers; she purchases three beers immediately and lines them up, because she hates having to request refills. A lonely man admires Katherine's "forward thinking"--and, soon, the two are married and living in London.

Not everyone would find humor in a suicide prevention setting--but Heiny understands that, from the right angle, pretty much anything is funny. Additionally, the essay has a surprise ending; we flash forward, and the camera "pans out." Heiny then delivers the insight the essay has been building toward; I won't hand out a spoiler. I'll just say that the last sentence is exactly right, and it is "earned."

You've got to read this.

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