summer

My lord, I do not want to be at work today. The reason is that summer has returned to San Francisco, California. I biked to downtown this afternoon and quickly realized that absolutely everyone is outdoors. There's traffic on narrow side streets, traffic on wide streets in the park. Pedestrian traffic all over Union Square. Bike traffic on the bike paths through the panhandle. I almost crashed into a small boy pedalling furiously on training wheels. The sun cam down from the cerulean sky and saved that child by casting a tree's shadow over my eyes a split second before impact. I had just enough time to take evasive action and narrowly avoid murdering a minor by way of bicycle.

The city must be full of revelers and bridge and tunnel people. Feels like tourist season again out there. On open grassy spaces in Golden Gate park, groups and individuals are reclining or laying on blankets, sunning themselves and picnicing. Volleyball nets are stretched tight, people are running and bicycling, dogs smile happily, their ears flopping about over their hairy heads. Here at work it's air conditioned and quiet. No one that can help it must be at work in the building. I am not one of them. I wouldn't be, given the choice. And yet, quite frankly, the choice was mine. As it was, I rolled in nearly thirty minutes late. I was proud of that. Nearly a record. Now what? I think I'll make myself a mug of coffee. That should do to wire me up to the network port linking my brain to the hard drive on which important blog-worthy events of this past week are automatically saved. The kinds of elements that "make my tail wag," as I occasionally say to myself, half jokingly, half jokingly.

I had dinner Monday evening with Mike Gorski, a friend from Wyoming that I know through my sister Sheila and brother in law Jeff. He was in town arranging for French residency with his new wife of two months Valerie, A French woman from Martinique. They're currently living in Lille, in northwestern France, but had to travel to San Francisco to deal with immigration, since the consulate here covers Wyoming. We had a pleasant but very short time catching up over Thai food at the Embarcadero. Mike met Valerie in Morocco during a short trip from Granada, Spain, where he's been living for I think a year and a half and learning Spanish and Arabic. They must have fallen in love very quickly, for six months later, they married. Some people either just know in their heart and mind, or they don't really know, but they're bold enough to take the risk, relinquish control over the situation, and go on faith-faith in love, I conclude. Can't be anything but that, can it? I know it can. So many other factors within the circumstance play a part. The main thing is to act on the will by giving up your will. Perhaps that's what love is all about - surrendering.