Not Leaving San Francisco, Yet
By admin | June 11, 2012
Sunday, June 10, 2012
ORD to SFO
I had planned to fly in, take the BART directly to REI, pick up my bike, put it back together, meet Sadie, and ride south. But there was no biking today. I checked my tracking number last night, and my bike was scheduled to be delivered Monday, tomorrow. Oops. I arrived without incident at the San Francisco airport and started calling friends to find a place to stay the night. Sadie, staying with friends of friends in Oakland, was not sad to have another day to rest and run errands.
My friend Lori was a little stressed, as she was working on packing up her house to move, but she agreed to let me stay with such short notice! Phew. As it happens, I have had a lot of experience packing over the last few years. I felt like I could be useful.
Rebecca and I have found that having a friend around to listen to you when pack is particularly helpful. Managing stuff can be more difficult just for the emotional weight the things in our lives carry. When you can pass on the stories of the knickknacks, clothes, books, scraps of paper, half-used bottles of lotion, and so on, it becomes easier to sort them, box them up, and sometimes even let them go. As this goes along, when you find a task that doesn’t involve deciding, then you can hand that over to your listening friend as well. I wrapped and boxed many breakables at Lori’s.
I’m so happy I was able to offer something in return for a place to stay! I felt like I was in the right place at the right time. I was also able to introduce her to the three box method of sorting. (One for keeping, one for tossing, and one for giving away.) It’s such a useful strategy, but it’s even easier to use when I’m not the one making all the decisions!
I also got to have dinner with my friend Sara. She recently married her long-time partner at a tiny ceremony in Reno, and she started working for the Burning Man organization just two weeks ago. She also has more experience as an aunt than I do. There was so much to catch up on!
I’m so thrilled I got to visit with two terrific friends. I think my bike arrived right on schedule after all.
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