Pour Me A Story, Vol. 43
feat. Ali Fuehring, a festival recap and an airport burger
howdy everyone, and welcome back to Pour Me A Story, whose kegs I will freely acknowledge ran dry the past two weeks.
a couple weekends ago, my first week of absentia, was the 11th annual Rhode Island Seafood Festival, a passion-project event about which I wrote in greater detail a few weeks ago.
despite a two-year break from running events (a cut-down, outdoor food truck gathering last year doesn’t count), we regathered our rhythm and threw a pretty goddamn good festival. we had picture-perfect weather on both Saturday and Sunday — a rare occurrence and as close to a miracle as any of us will believe in — and the crowds really turned out.
we had some unfortunate late withdrawals from some of our restaurant vendors, which left the food options a little shorter and the lines a little longer, but from all reports the combination of great weather, cold beers and “being outside at an event again” seemed to keep people in pretty good spirits.
even better than that, it was almost surreal being back around my festival friends again after two years without seeing most of them. the world still isn’t back to where it was in early 2020, but moments like those really bring it all rushing back.
I even got interviewed by one of the local TV stations! thankfully no footage exists, other than these stupid action shots.
anyway, last week’s edition was a no-show because, after a two-year break, my body (now carrying both extra pounds and Parent Mileage) forgot how hard it is to recover from five days of constant motion, heavy lifting and late nights drinking Narragansett.
but we’re here now! the wheels are in motion once more.
Anyway, We Have Company
this week, in keeping with the theme of “talking to parents that I met on Twitter,” we’re joined by Ali Fuehring. Ali was good enough to respond to all of my questions like three weeks ago, but I got sidetracked by festival duties and “that life stuff.” thankfully she was real patient and finally we’re getting this one off the ground.
AC: the past 18 or so months have been an incredibly long decade, especially for parents. how are you holding up?
AF: It’s been a helluva year and a half. I recently found my first two grey hairs, and I’m placing the blame entirely on the stress of this past year (because it’s definitely not because I’m aging).
AC: being a parent of an energetic boy sounds like a wild ride at the best of times, before even adding "outside is dangerous right now" to the mix. how has that changed your life (that sounds like a dumb question) and has it matched up with the expectations you may have had before he arrived?
AF: I’m so thankful that he’s the age that he is right now when all of this is going on. I can’t imagine how tricky it must be to have a child on either end of the spectrum- a young child, who doesn’t understand masking/hand washing, or a surly teen who is (rightfully) upset about missing things like school dances, sports, or socializing with friends. He has a small, tight knit friend group, and he’s very vigilant with masking and hand washing, so I trust him to be safe and allow him to have outdoor playdates with these friends. But it’s definitely not how I expected this time of his life to go.
I think every parent will tell you that all expectations you may have had about parenting quickly go out the window after the child is born, and especially as they age. They’re their own little human with their own dreams and desires, and I’ve had to constantly adjust my expectations to better align with who he is as a person. Like many parents this year, our household rules regarding screen time have become virtually non-existent. As a pre-teen boy, he’s of course obsessed with Fortnite, and I’ve allowed him to have way more time than I ever thought I’d be okay with, because it allows him to socialize with his friends and gives him some sense of “normalcy”.
AC: now I know you're in the healthcare industry, which...fuck man. thank you for being on the front lines for this oftentimes selfish country through all this. what has the past year looked like for you, and where are we now?
AF: I’ve been working as an emergency department travel nurse for the past 3 1/2 years. When the pandemic first hit, I was working in a pediatric ER in Chicago. I, along with every other contracted employee at the hospital, was let go about 3 months into the pandemic, because we simply weren’t seeing a high volume of pediatric patients with COVID at that time, and the hospital was facing major budget cuts because any elective procedures were cancelled until further notice (and those are the big money makers for hospitals).
Shortly after, I accepted a contract at a small ER on the west side of Chicago. It was in one of the hardest hit neighborhoods in the early days of the pandemic, mainly due to the high level of poverty/homelessness in the area (at one point, we had a 52% positivity rate, which is INSANE). I knew all of this going into the contract, but nothing prepared me for how bad it actually was. We were told to reuse our PPE until it fell apart, we were intubating patients in the hallways, and I had a three week stretch where I had at least one patient die every single shift. I had never quit a contract before, but I quit that one- mentally, I couldn’t take it.
After that, I took a contract in rural NW Illinois. It was a two hour commute each way, but I was happy to be at a small, community hospital where COVID wasn’t running so rampant. I stayed there until June of this year, and ultimately decided to take the summer off so that I could be home with my kiddo and have some much-needed downtime. Like many nurses, I’m burnt out and am second guessing what I want to do with my life. But for now, I’m returning to work at a local ER at part-time status until I figure out what’s next.
AC: okay let's talk about something more pleasant. what have you been doing to unwind in your downtime, because god knows you've earned it?
AF: As corny as it sounds, spending time with my son has been my biggest source of joy throughout all of this. Not only is parenting a great distraction, but he’s finally at the age where we enjoy similar things. We’ve had a lot of movie marathons lately, and are currently reading through the Harry Potter series together. When he’s with his dad, I unwind by reading, journaling, binging various TV series, and playing with my dogs.
AC: the special guest of the week gets to pick the tune of the week. it can be something you've been jamming to lately or an old favorite or something particularly pertinent or new or whatever!
AF: Heatwaves - Glass Animals
AC: the second "special guest" privilege is getting a free plug -- something meaningful or important to you or just something cool you've done lately or whatever. sky's the limit!
AF: Lemme plug the importance of carrying Narcan for opiate overdose & that it’s FREE without a prescription.
Worthy Consumables
as you may well have ascertained in the past 42 editions, I’m somewhat a creature of habit. this is driven both by a fondness for the nostalgic and a real control-freak streak where I like to know what I’m getting.
for the past few years it’s been my favorite post-festival tradition to post up at Legal Sea Foods in Terminal B at Logan Airport in Boston for some sustenance before the flight home. there’d always be a half-dozen oysters, a crab cake sandwich, two old fashioneds that didn’t touch the sides, and a Harpoon IPA for good measure, all paid for with cash from my weekend earnings.
this year, I was lucky enough to ride up to Logan with TJ and his fiancee rather than go it alone on the Peter Pan bus from Providence. when we got to the terminal, all of us ready to get something to eat, I became dimly aware that I’d never flown Delta home from Boston before and that we weren’t in the same terminal as Legal Seafoods.
nevertheless, we perched at the bar at Alta Strada, which I now know is an east coast upscale casual Italian restaurant. that doesn’t track because I don’t remember seeing much Italian food on the menu, but in saying that, I was looking for something more substantial and handheld.
after the prerequisite two old fashioneds that didn’t touch the sides, the burger I ordered arrived and I was puzzled to find that it was, in a word, sensational. according to the menu, it was “two 4oz patties topped with cheese, bacon, tomato aioli, on a Brioche bun. Served with fries.” that about sums it up, and it doesn’t sound particularly remarkable, but I’m still thinking about it three weeks later. although to be fair, after having spent the morning unloading two furniture trucks and a 20-foot box truck into a storage unit, it may have just been a combination of extreme hunger and Eddie-Murphy-Saltine mindset.
anyway, if you find yourself at Boston Logan sometime soon and you’re flying out of terminal B, can I recommend the burger?
Parting Note
as requested, here’s Glass Animals!
thanks for hanging with me today pals, and thanks for your patience during The Great September Hiatus. looking forward to picking up where we left off next week!
— adrian ✌🏻