Those of you who are my facebook and twitter friends are privy to my most recent series of probably all too annoying updates saying nothing interesting expect short bursts of over enthusiastic lines of my elated happiness that I now live in California, on the ocean, in a forest, doing a job I really, really like.
Here’s the thing I have learned in my Forest Gump-ish life. You can’t sit around and wait for the right moment. You just have to jump in. And sometimes you might jump in a really bad spot but eventually you just might land somewhere that makes you tweet “I am happy, I am happy” over and over again.
When I first alerted everyone what I was doing, they thought I was nuts and irrational. This is one of those moments I am glad I pushed the mute button on rational thought and jumped in.
Remember that thing Steve Jobs said in the Stanford commencement speech? Something like “I wake up and look myself in the mirror and ask if am I happy with what I am about to do today? And if the answer is no too many days in a row, then I know it’s time to change.”
That is so not a direct quote but that’s how I remember it. And don’t you go raining on my parade about how he died because he knew life was short and he seized it and changed the world because of that.
Okay, so let me tell you about the last few eventful days (remember, I write this for my 90 year old self, so I apologize if I am a bore).
I went to San Francisco. To purchase a car after 8 years of nothing but feet, bikes, hitch hiking, trains and buses.
The only way to get out of my new home to a public bus is too hike. Up 850 feet. For an hour.
I packed my dirty, grimy backpack that’s been around the world and back with me and proceeded on the four hour journey to SF (it’s like an hour with your own car).
I got on a small commuter bus filled with extroverts, crazies, alcoholics and drug addicts and arrived downtown to the very foggy streets of San Francisco. Sidenote: did you know locals won’t call it San Fran? Doh! This I learned quickly and changed my abbreviation to SF. I mean, San–Fran–Cisco...way too long.
One of the perks of my job is free accommodation, Yes, I sauntered into SF and was given a suite all to myself in the middle of downtown. Love it.
I had thoughts of going out but having been awake since 5 am and worked and hiked and bused. I crashed hard but woke up bright and early to visit with the car people.
I knew I wanted a teeny car and I got lots of advice from all my friends and family. Cousin Shane had told me one weekend how cousin Adam pitted the dealerships against one another and I learned to use that pull. It’s like bargaining in developing countries, never get attached and stick to your set number.
I bounced back and forth to dealerships and this thing I had been dreading started to become a fun game. I felt powerful and confident, I knew there was one of me, the purchaser and tons of them with tons of cars to get rid of. So, really, I had all the power. Et voila. I am now the owner of a Euro sized car. I am pleased to say the French couple staying here were mighty impressed an American had a “car like you see in Europe, not America.” C’est moi.
After a long day of car shopping, Shane called me up to meet him to stop by Critical Mass as I was en route to meeting Will for drinks. I was all, “I gotta be there at 7...” and he was all, “you HAVE to see this. Lacey, 5000 people on bikes.”
Uh. Okay. It was a trip. I ran down from my hotel, saw my cousin and 5000 people stopping traffic on the streets of SF, riding in costumes and have a grand time. And I am falling in love with San Francisco.
Then off to Folsom, to Terroir, to meet Will.
So, Terroir, I went once before four years ago when I did the wine harvest and had to stop in on my way out of town because it is a bar that was selling only natural wine and I, a purist and wine lover, had just come off of a Napa Harvest where I was shocked at all the additives they added to wine. Oh, how about a plastic milk jug full of tannin to make the wine darker so people will buy it because “people” don’t buy light colored red wine. Uhhh...
Here’s the list of additives for you, it is in French but Google translates it alright for you.
So, the only place I knew I wanted to have a drink at in SF was Terroir. It was a kick ass night. I haven’t really been drinking so much in the last year and it was a real treat to drink some great wines.
Will is from my hometown and lives in SF. His crew of friends is my crew of friends but we hung with the crew at different stages. They were my best friends in high school and then I moved (most of them stayed in Chicago) and he joined the group post college. I am not so sure we had ever had an extensive conversation and now we were in SF drinking natural wine, talking about all things Evanston. I talked so much I awoke with a swore throat–good times.
The next day, I bought a car. I checked out of my hotel and walked in with my dirty backpack, sleepy eyes and literally a grocery bag full of loose papers as my purse. “I promise you, I am not normally one of those weird people that uses grocery bags as purses and I don’t normally walk around the city with hiking gear,” I assured the salesman. I am sure these guys had no idea what to make of me. And to top it off, when we were setting up the Bluetooth, No Church in the Wild blasts out of the speakers. “You are a Kanye fan?!?” He asks in shock. Yes, this hippie hiker chick loves her some rap music. And I was off in my new ride.
Then I drove it for 15 minutes across the Golden Gate to Sausalito and met Shane and crew on the sail boat. Hilarious. A crew of Burners turned sailors calls for some good times like Tim sailing into the soupy strong currents under the Golden Gate Bridge (with bottle of wine in tow), our sails full with wind but we aren’t moving due to the currents, kinda like being on a treadmill. Add fog and wind into the mix and you have yourself an adventure.
“I bet it’s killing you that you just bought a car and you drove it right to a boat and now your stuck on the water,” Shane says to me.
I was a bit ansi to go, go, go and that I did. I drove back to beautiful West Marin as the sun was setting. I felt free and happy with the pavement moving under my feet. I was happy to know this is just the first of many city life blended with country life experiences. Balance.
I used up every second of my weekend and it leaves me happy, happy, happy. As I drove myself home, I really got see feel just how far out I live. The stars are vibrant, the roads are small and curvy, the night is solid night. Only an hour away and it is such a different world. I pull into my home and I hear the thunderous waves crashing on the beach below. I see a coyote, and I breathe in the cold crisp air. I make a cup of tea and pull on my lambswool slippers and feel pretty damn lucky.