Just when the constant rain and cold and the craziness of little children was about to make me insane, I got the ultimate reprieve in the form of 2 weeks of SPRING BREAK! My break began with a lovely party at the home of a high school friend, where I drank a little too much and danced holes through my stockings and it was lovely and perfect and a great reminder that I am still on the right side of 30. Or more to the point that even when I reach the left side of 30 I might still have it in me to party like a rock star...(a classy rock star). The next day I leasurely gathered up my travel gear and caught a flight to San Fran to bestow belated b-day wishes on my girl Rexi.
Rexi and I have a unique friendship. We met in Spanish class in summer quarter right before we made the trip to Spain that changed both our lives. I was working the night shift for the box loaders and could barely keep my eyes open in that class, but still we managed to meet on break while running through the quad to get rice crispy treats. And from then on, though we are very different people, we forged a friendship that saw us through various adventures in Europe, back in the states and later through two years of being JETs in Japan. So I couldn't help but feel a special sense of rightness that we should reunite to party during yet another stage of our life.
Our first stop was her apartment which is at the top of a hill and up several narrow flights of stairs (like seemingly everywhere else I would go to in San Fran). We paused to catch up for a bit, then got dolled up and headed out for champagne and an 80s b-day party for one of her friends. It was a fun night, and funny because I ran into several of my Seattle friends out escaping the rain as well.
The next day I was set to meet up with Benji, another friend from a past life. We led a fabulous trip to Hokkaido together about 3 years ago and hadn't managed to see each other since. We decided to meet in Chrissy Fields by the water...but first Rexi and I hit up China Town for dimsun, then we hiked through the north shore stopping for Italian coffee and amaretto cookies. As we made out way down the marina, Benji called to say he was lost and would be an hour late, so we decided to hop an old fishing boat and take crusie in the bay. While we were waiting for the Captain to fill the boat, he regaled us with stories about living in San Fran and then pointed out the bush man.
At first I didn't see him. I only say what looked like a large fake plant, then I realized there was a man hidden behind the branches. We watched him curiously.
"He's a real son of a #%$*&," explained Captain Moore. "Watch him, he just stands over there and waits for people to walk by so he can scare the $#%& out of them. He gets paid too. You tourist give him money for that. He makes about 40 grand a year."
Captain Moore continued on to tell us that once the bush man had scared a man so badly that he bumped into his wife, who fell over and broke her arm. They sued him, but the jury decided he was innocent and so the scaring has continued and there are more than one bush man now, though every one claims to be the original.
As we made our way out into the water, the sun shining down on us, flanked by the Bay Bridge on one side and the Golden Gate Bridge on the other side, I had this moment of deep gratitude. It was a perfect day, warm and breezy and filled with wonder. As per usual Rexi had a attracted an admirer, so I ended up sitting next to her new friend's cousin, a gentleman stamped with gang tattooes, who kept a running comentary on every boat we passed citing how he would like a boat someday and how he would like to do this and that someday, someday, always someday. And I couldn't help think about the bushmen and the someday men and how we are all complicit in these systems of self denial. Either we are busy allowing the unknown to scare us, or lurking in the shadows trying to get the drop on someone else, or maybe we're just someday people...always too focused on the future to really live and enjoy the present. But in that moment I felt grounded, as though everything had been leading me to the singular revelation that I was very content to just sit in the sun with a good friend watching the seals and knowing that my highest good was infact unfolding in the right here and now and stretching infinitely outward towards the unknown.
I did get to meet up with Benji and it was lovely, as were my visits with SJ, a friend from grad school and the Chef, my long lost cousin who I hadn't seen in literally 20 years. I ate my way through the city, not feeling guilty for second given all the hills I walked and I did even get to go salsa dancing at Cocomo, and while I could (an have) gone on an on about the details, the point is that every moment was perfect. I didn't feel rushed or distressed. Even when I got lost and met crazy people, the sun was still shining and nothing seemed to be able to piss me off. I wish this weren't just a vacation though...what if I could be this way everyday all day? Then when I looked back on my life I could describe it as a series of perfect years. I'll work on that. My vacation continues...next stop...the cherry blossom festival in DC.
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