Introduction : the middle -- This is wudder -- Maybe going back again -- Oh my, this soup's delicious, isn't it? -- You said outside, but you ain't that outside -- The greatest city in America -- Who cares -- Clap until you feel it -- Break room cake communion -- Another person in the room -- Congratulations, the best is over! -- Jericho -- Hostas negotiator -- Determined to enjoy myself -- Soft ground: an interlude -- The invitation -- God in the machine -- Rainbow connection -- It's called hope.

"The beloved bestselling author of Here for It presents a collection of heartening, thoughtful, and laugh-out-loud funny essays about the lifelong search for community and returning home. After going viral "reading" the chaotic political news, having one-too-many awkward social encounters, and coming to terms with his intersecting identities, R. Eric Thomas is ready to live his best life. Or, if not, at least his best-ish life. Now, in this collection of insightful and hilarious essays, Eric finds himself doing things completely out of character, starting with moving back to his perpetually misunderstood hometown of Baltimore. They say you can't go home again, but what if you and home have changed beyond recognition? From attending his twenty-year high school reunion and discovering another person's face on his name badge, to splattering an urgent care room with blood à la The Shining, to being terrorized by a plague of gay frogs who've overtaken his backyard, Eric provides the nitty, and sometimes gritty, details of wrestling with your past life while in the middle of a new one. With wit, heart, and hope for the future, Congratulations, The Best Is Over! is the not-so-gentle reminder we all need that even when life doesn't go according to plan, we can still find our way back home"-- Provided by publisher.