You Got To Write

And I got to go.

My friend just left, after two big bowls of homemade soup, to ride his cycle through the wet streets and back to the Mission.

I don’t like starting my blog “late” but I also know I am going to have limited time with said friend as he is going to be exploring another coast, the East Coast, here in just a few months.

I don’t doubt he shall return, all prodigal son like, to San Francisco, but he’ll be in New York for a little while.

So, hang time was a must and when he said tea, I said yes, and when he said, soup?

I said of course.

I had made some yesterday.

It feels really nice to have a friend over for tea and a bowl of soup.

Who’s hungry?

I feel like I have a home to accommodate things like this, small gestures, no grand dinner parties will be had here, but just a nice simple bowl of hot soup and some good conversation.

I think that about sums up a well lived life.

Friends, some travel, a good bowl of hot soup on a cold, rainy night, a spot of tea, a good talk.

I have a great life, then.

Not that I had any doubts.

Nope.

I had a great day too, nothing extraordinary.

Just some stories in my head that had to get shook out and when that needed happening my charge actually called one of my best girlfriends.

I had no idea that my phone was going until I heard a little mechanical voice asking if I had left the message that I wanted to leave.

Oops.

She actually called back and I was able to tell her my story, which as soon as it left my head, lost all its power.

Which is why I need my friends.

I need someone to tell me when I am off and how to get back on track.

It was a good day for that.

And yeah, it rained, and yeah, I got wet on the bike ride home, but it wasn’t horrible and it wasn’t too cold and I arrived safely home.

The only thing that I am thinking ride wise for the rest of the week is that I am going to need to reschedule my written test for my motorcycle license, it’s just not going to fit into my work schedule on Friday.

After I finish my blog I am going to hop over to the DMV website and give that a go.

What I really need is an appointment on a Saturday.

The hours at the DMV are 9a.m.-5p.m. M-F, the exact hours I am at work, well, close to, my work hours start earlier and end later, but there is not wiggle room for me to get in and out of work to go to take the test.

Unless I leave early on a work day, which I am loath to do.

I shall just see what will come up appointment wise and try for a Saturday appointment.

Scooter me up baby.

Tomorrow I will actually be driving a vehicle that is not on two wheels.

The mom is going to leave the car and is sending me over the bridge to the Discovery Museum.  The weather is supposed to be nice and it will be a great adventure.

I miss having access to a car with my current charges.

I am in walking distance of plenty of fun stuff, don’t get me wrong, but when I was a nanny in Potrero Hill the family who hosted the share left there Volvo station wagon for me to use.

I made field trips all over the city.

I took them to China Town, on the cable cars, to the ice skating rink, we went to the Farmers Market on the Embarcadero, over to the Discovery Museum a bunch of  times, many, many, many trips up to the Randall Museum, to the zoo, to the MOMA, to the Redwood Steam Trains in Tilden park, to Little Farm–also in Tilden Park, we went to a semi-private little known beach in Sausalito and they went swimming, we went to the USF swimming pool, Golden Gate Park, the Academy of Sciences, all the rec centers–Eureka Valley, Jackson Rec, good lord, where didn’t we go, now that I think about it.

It was a great gift having access to that car.

I will always remember the great nanny trifecta of Academy of Science, feeding squirrels in the park at the Golden Gate playground, followed by the most rare and fleeting of occurrences–nap time at the same time.

And this was not just a nap time.

It was a three-hour nap for both of them.

The first half hour was in the car on the way back from the Academy of Science and I remember I had purposely turned up the music and was encouraging them to sing along as I could see them both slipping into slumber land.

They did not make it.

I pulled up to the spot on DeHaro, killed the engine, ran up to the house, opened the door, dropped my bags on the floor, opened up the door to the nursery–baby gated–and then the door to the little boys bedroom, then ran back down the stairs, pulled out the first monkey out of the carseat, got him, still asleep, into the house and into the bed and snicked the door shut behind him, and hustled back down the steps, scooping the little girl, shutting the car door, setting the alarm, up the steps, around my bags, shut the door, up the second set up steps to the nursery and got her into her pack-n-play without waking her up.

Whoa.

Then they both slept so long I checked to make sure they were still sleeping twice.

I had innumerable cups of tea and sat in the sun light streaming in the back patio window.

I will never forget this.

I thought to myself.

And I haven’t so far.

A car, a kid, an adventure.

I am ready.

Tomorrow it’s on.

Field trip!

Tags: adventures, conversation, family, field trip, friends, home, hospitality, leading a good life, Nanny, nanny capers, postaday, soup, tea, Volvo station wagon, work