一年前，我的生活一切都變了。隨著知名電視節目《深夜秀》的主持人大衛?萊特曼退休，一代傳奇就此謝幕，而我夢想中的工作也隨之結束了。這也是我有生以來干得最久的一份工作（遠遠地排在第二名的是管理一家熱狗快餐連鎖店）。我在這里認識了我的妻子——南茜?阿戈斯蒂尼，她也在這里工作。大衛在節目中公布了我和南茜的婚訊。我的兩個女兒簡和艾比出生后，他還在節目里分享了她們的照片。可以說，這個節目已經成了我的第二個家。雖然我在這里已經干了20多年，但比起一些已經和大衛合作了30多年的員工，我還算是個新來的。

你該怎樣與這群像家人一樣共事了超過22年的同事告別呢？我們一起喝了很多酒。在每周四的節目錄制期間，我們一些人聚在辦公室里，你開一瓶，我開一罐，試圖忘記大家馬上就要分離的事實。隨著結束的時間越來越近，參加聚會的人也越來越多。我們歡笑著，回憶著。同時我們也在想，為什么這么多年來，我們沒多在辦公室里喝幾回酒（千禧一代一定要吸取這個教訓了！）

One year ago everything changed for me. David Letterman was retiring. A legend was leaving. My dream job was ending. Easily the longest job I ever held (managing a fast food hot dog joint running a distant 2nd). I met my wife, Nancy Agostini, working there, Dave announced our wedding on air and shared pictures of our daughters, Jane and Abby, when they were born. The show had become our extended family. But even with 20 years under my belt, I was considered the new guy compared to some longtime staffers who had logged 30+ years with Dave.

How do you say goodbye to the people that had become family over 22 years? We drank. A lot. A few of us would gather in an office between Thursday show tapings, crack open a can of this or a bottle of that and try to ignore the fact that this would all be going away soon. As the end grew closer, the party got bigger. We laughed and reminisced, but mostly, we wondered why we hadn’t done more office drinking over the years (pay attention millenials!).

從1993年開播的《深夜秀》自此落下了帷幕。錄制現場外聚集了大量粉絲，百老匯門前停滿了新聞采訪車，艾德蘇利文劇院內也匯聚了大批名人。最后一集《深夜秀》的籌備工作非常辛苦，但重回聚光燈下的感覺很好。最后這期節目是一場大雜燴。比爾?默里、史蒂夫?馬丁、蒂娜?菲、基斯?洛克、曼寧兄弟中的一員、噴火戰機樂隊，以及30多年來的經典片段，都在導演芭芭拉?蓋恩斯操刀的一段蒙太奇里精彩地呈現出來。這期節目就這樣結束了。在節目結束幾個小時后，劇場里是這個樣子的：

The run of the Late Show ended as it began in 1993. Hordes of fans out on the street, news trucks parked on Broadway, and a parade of celebrities inside the Ed Sullivan Theater. The buildup to the end was overwhelming, but it felt good to be back in the spotlight. The last show was a blur. Bill Murray, Steve Martin, Tina Fey, Chris Rock, a Manning brother, Foo Fighters, and over 30 years of memories packed into one amazing, career-defining montage by Barbara Gaines.

Then, just like that, it was gone. A few hours after the last show, the place looked like this:

CBS電視臺給了我們兩天時間打包走人。

CBS gave us two days to pack up our offices and get out.

可以說這是一次“硬著陸”。但這段旅程是美好的。不盡人意的事難免會發生，沒人抱怨。

一年過去了，很多事也時過境遷（比如大衛留了胡子）。同事們都在其他節目里找到了新工作，我們的老房子也迎來了新住客。不幸的是，在這一年中，有幾位朋友已經離我們而去了。我們這些人仍然保持著聯系，時不時三三兩兩地聚會。事實證明，我們根本沒有必要說再見，因為我們的聚會只是從辦公室挪到了社交媒體上。

那些人將永遠是我的家人，那幢建筑將永遠給我家的感覺。我從那個地方學到了一切。在那里工作是一件非常具有挑戰性的事。但在失去了那份工作一年后，我意識到，它已經讓我做好了迎接任何事的準備——除了大衛的那把胡子。

感謝大衛。 （財富中文網）

譯者：樸成奎

It was a rough landing. But it was a great ride and shit happens. No complaints.

One year removed from the last show and much has changed (see: Dave’s beard). People have moved on to new jobs on other shows, a new family moved into our old house, and unfortunately, we lost a couple people along the way. We all still keep in touch and mini reunions pop up here and there. Turns out we never had to say goodbye, the party just moved from the office to social media.

Those people will always be family and that building will always feel like home. I learned everything from that place. Working there was challenging, but a year later I realize that it prepared me for anything. Except Dave’s beard.

#ThanksDave