Southwest Airlines deposited me back in San Francisco at 19.30 on Saturday, September 18th, and I took off again on a 16.55 Virgin Atlantic flight on Thursday, September 23rd.
SATURDAY V met me at SFO and hugged me tight, kissing me on the lips. We caught the BART and bus home, via the destitute homeless of Civic Center to the trust fund homeless of the Haight. V had made a batch of his carrot soup and we had that for dinner, over a handful of spinach. He showed me the trailer for Tora Tora Tora, one of those iconic films he'd seen as a kid with his brothers, and then laughed till his tummy hurt over the fire alarm whacking episode from Curb Your Enthusiasm.
SUNDAY was a lovely day, tooling around a sunny and carefree San Francisco on my (well, V's) road bike and spending time with friends. I went to the first service of Glide with V, where his djembe accompanied the Youth Choir (Erin Mixon changed GTC -- for Teen choir -- to GYC). Then biked down Market to the Castro and visited with G&V&C, and heard about their time at the conference in Boston and with G's family in St Thomas. Mused about the mid-life crisis phenomenon some more, and V made my day by suggesting they make it to the Festival of the Desert in January 2011; that would be so awesome! Brunch with CB at Cafe Flore, catching up on my road-trip and on her doings in SF and the Sierras. She told me she'd applied to chaperone the school trip to Senegal in February 2011 -- how cool would that be?! More church at 14.30 with the choir at SAF; met Gregg who knows Pastor Fitch and Angelique from the 1980s, and felt good pitching the Mile in Their Shoes project to George & Judy, Carolyn, and Mona. Biked home with V via Trader Joe's on Masonic; he prefers the hybrid 'cause he can sit more upright with the djembe on his back. V cooked up raviolis and I helped prepare the veggies & salad, and we ate on the 'breakfast in bed' tables watching 'Food Matters,' a nutrition documentary V wanted me to see.
MONDAY was a blissful day together with V. And a forgetful one regarding other people. ML in the morning and decided to go to Lamott's 9.30 bikram yoga class in the Castro. Drank more water during class that is 'allowed', but managed to stave off the nausea I believe comes with dehydration. V was feeling the heat / wooziness and took a few breaks from the postures. Said bye to Lamott -- 'Can I come with you on your trip?! I'll close up shop; it sounds great!' Stopped by La Taza at the bottom of Diamond for Mexican Mochas (with a hint of cinnamon) and were adopted by Louie, lymphoma surviver and overall adorable dog belonging to a couple having breakfast by the open window. Both of us had left home without our phones, and I was late to connect with MG who I'd planned to have brunch with, but by the time we spoke she was ensconced in a cafe near the Front Porch with MN going over her family tree. Also forgot that I'd arragned to have lunch with RC, who called at 13.30 just as I was looking ahead to meeting AS to make a run down to my storage unit. Biked over to R's and satisfied his curiosity about 'the day the romance died' and showed him how to post events to the Art & Film's FaceBook page I'd set up (even though ID -- who was at the studio when I dropped by -- could easily have instructed him). AS picked me up at 15.00 on the dot to do a run to Stop N Stor and have me back in time for my 16.00 appointment with LL at the Castro Mission Health Center. I ended up merely picking up the office chair and lamp and vacuum cleaner to drop off on a street corner and make space for more boxes. Had a bubbly chat with LL (she greeted me with a hug), oozing the optimism and love and sense of connection I've been absorbing from WM these last few weeks. Dropped by Ferrari's in the Castro for a magnum of prosecco, a baguette and a hunk of bra dura, and continued up to my Diamond destination. T was feeding F&C a snack (peanut butter and banana sandwiches, washed down with beet-whey juice), and V was about to pop out to the Bi-Rite. A was under the weather and snoozed on the couch for much of the evening, with G flopped beside him (when he wasn't at T's breast). Broke open the proseco around 18.30 shortly before VB arrived, coming over the top of the hill from ICA on Dolores. Ordered organically sourced Mexican from the new Little Chihuaha recently opened in Noe VAlley; A and I drove over to pick up the food and Ric arrived as we pulled up back in front of the house. G got back 1/2hr later, as we were most of the way through dinner and A&T&F&G were thinking about packing up to go home (C had already fist-squeezed his good-nights to us from his perch in V's arms). Nice of A and family to drive into town to say goodbye, nice of V&G to host the evening...but somehow felt empty and without connection and that saddened me. Nice ride home with V, holding hands, talking - still on a roll about the roles at SAF. Days like this one were exactly 'what I'd been hoping for' when I moved to SF; nothing momentus, just a connected vibe, doing things together we enjoy, spending sometime apart and coming together again, alone and with friends, weaving in and out of each other's lives with energy and harmony...
TUESDAY I had a melt-down.
WEDNESDAY I woke up feeling more whole again, and packed the stuff I'm leaving behind in SF into watertight clear plastic boxes for V to take down to my Stop N Stor unit.
THURSDAY I packed my bags for my trip, and caught my flight to Amsterdam via London.
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