It was early on a chilly November morning and I was terrified. Somehow, in the space of a few weeks, this Happy Hour project went from a drunken idea exchange at Trax over 18 cosmos (apiece) to this: a whole crew of filmmakers, all set up with equipment, supplies, and a dream, and all looking at me with wide, expectant eyes. “Give me five minutes.” I bolted for the bathroom.

You see…Travis and I had done a practice run with Joe and we were pretty confident we had some idea what we were doing. I had scheduled my first actual, filmed interview with a friend who always makes me feel calm and comfortable - but who has a lot of good stories to tell. A winning combination for the pilot episode. The problem? Mere minutes before we were scheduled to start, it was all too clear that our guest was not coming. My mom-thoughts kept spiraling (if he’s not here, he must be dead in a ditch!) Side note: All this has since been resolved, no one died, and all friendships are more solid than ever before.

What do we do? Reschedule? I checked with my reflection to steady myself.

After hundreds of dollars and all those hours of planning, oh hell no. Figure it out.

Emerging from the bathroom, I scanned the faces of the crew awaiting my word. My eyes fell on Nick Pugh, there as Production Assistant, and whom I had known approximately 10 minutes. The smile and color returning to my face, I plopped down on the couch next to him. “So, Nick. What’s your story?”

Poor boy looked like he’d just gotten hit by a truck full of marshmallows. But he stepped up. Nope, no time for doing hair or changing clothes…it’s go time! And he did. What a trouper.

We all learned so much that day and it brought us all closer than I ever would have imagined. And that’s how Episode One was born!