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111 Days of Andrew Cuomo
Time to let him go
As the daily briefing concludes, I am preparing to say goodbye to my imaginary boyfriend of 111days, Governor Andrew Cuomo. Am I ready?
For his final briefing, the governor traded in his golf shirt for a black suit with a popping lavender tie. He is for once sitting alone. There’s an Excelsior seal propped up in the background, parallel to the American Flag, and pictures of his family blurred in the background.
I can still remember the first day we met, me alone and frightened on my living room couch and him staring across from me in his polo shirt, exuding warmth and kindness in a time when I needed it most. He wasn’t my typical type. Older. Serious. But as I began to hunker down through Covid-19 alone in isolation, Mr. Cuomo served as a surrogate boyfriend, uncle, and father all rolled into one.
Nothing could distract me. My phone would ring, and I would quickly answer and say, “Cuomo is on,” and hang up. Like the years of must-see TV that rivaled Seinfeld or Game of Thrones. I needed to hear every word, each statistic and then wait for the fortune cookie ending where he’d spew some sort of uplifting remark about how loving and strong New York was and from those words of comfort, I could proceed with my day. 110 days later I guess I no longer need him by my side.