While I Was Away

Always curious when I’ve been gone from San Francisco for awhile what I’ll find has changed in my absence. Here’s a short list (with italic commentary) from my two months away:

• No more dialing 7-digit phone numbers. Now local calls must include area code.

 It was inevitable and the East Coast was doing this over ten years ago. But still, those extra three numbers are really going to cut into my day.

• The wisteria bloomed.

Dang! Missed it. A few fading blossoms in my back yard.

• It continued not to rain.

Aaargh!!

• Fog came for an early summer preview visit.

Brrrr!

• A mass staff exodus at my school, some 12 people leaving.

Not for any political reason, just a strange convergence of life path changes coinciding. But the good news is a permanent spot opened up for daughter Talia and she’ll find out next week if she got the job. If she doesn’t, add two more to the list above.

• Sunset Stationary Store in the Inner Sunset closed.

Sad. Another bedrock of the old neighborhood (along with Irving Variety and Milano’s Pizza) gone. Where will I buy my Niji pens?

• The city limped through its daily motions, but there was a sense of something profoundly important to its spirit missing.

Me!

Ha ha ha!!! I’d like to think a few folks noticed (my wife? The kids I teach? The men in my Men’s Group? My dog if I had one?), but let’s face it, folks. We are supremely replaceable and that’s just the natural order of life. And hey, San Francisco, I didn’t miss you that much either! Do you know how clean the streets of Salzburg and Singapore are?

But all in all, happy to be back. Onward!