November 19, 2015

The list of Things-To-Do was long today and I was quite overwhelmed; the last two months have been  stressful in terms of work and home – 2 major aspects of anyone’s life.  I got up and began going through the list.  

The kids were also up.  This would be their last day in our home of almost 5 years and later in the day, as we were leaving, Ethan commented, “this home has been good to us” and he is right.  We have experienced many incredible memories here.  I know for myself, I have learned how to be alone, which is significant to me.  My children have also experienced important developmental phases and we have all grown.  Life is like that, sometimes.

There were five major points which needed to be accomplished;  Get Lizzie, drop of money at Deb’s Frosty; get rental car, and drop off school paperwork, drop off dogs.  There were delays in each of these, which could not be avoided.  As we left home, I was afraid I'd forgotten my contact lens items for the plane, so a mad unpacking to to find other cases, only to have misplaced my wallet - even more frenzied unpacking and fear as even more precious time slipped away.  It was a sign.  The frustration of Helplessness is a bitter taste, but…what can be done about it?  Traffic to SFO was also bad due to a truck dying at the tollbooth and blocking the bridge for an hour and an accident.  It suddenly hit me like lead that we would not make our flight and I called Swiss Airlines as I headed to SFO.  I spoke to the agent for 45 minutes:  He suggested a rebooking for tomorrow morning…then, it’s full.  Tonight to New York, then Zurich.  It’s full.  Again and again, suggestions by him, followed by “”it’s booked full.”  I was even prepared to drive to L.A. to catch a suggested flight, only to hear – you guessed it.  It was difficult understanding him with his heavy French accent and my pounding heart.  Sitting in a trucking area somewhere near SFO, Maggie sat next to me while Ethan went outside and lay on a concrete barrier. Both kids feel my emotions. Finally the agent rebooked us on Sunday, extending to December 1.  We will lose a couple of days, yet it’s better than missing out completely.

 

So we pulled into South San Fran and found a Chinese place.  We were all hungry, but my nerves were on edge.  I think the only one who ate well was Mags.  Ethan and I were both down, despite “plans to turn it into an adventure.” I phoned my favorite little place to stay in SF – Ocean View Motel across from Ocean Beach and they found a room with 2 queens.  We headed down, got our incredible room and headed down to Java Beach to get some hot chocolate and heard a band who were quite entertaining.  Time to hit the beach at night.

 

It was here that I discovered why we had missed our flight – Ethan came across a purse which had been strewn across the sand – a purse that belonged to a woman from Alaska.  We found her father’s number amongst the papers and I phoned him.  He told me she had lost her mother 2 days earlier.  And so…we sent out a text to her, letting her know our location.  We shall leave the purse at a police substation if we don’t hear back and will let dad know where it is.  Dad spoke with me for quite a while as I walked around the streets of Ocean Beach under the light of the beautiful moon, pouring his heart out, and that’s ok….  See?  There is always a silver lining.  The good news is, we will try to move as much as we can tomorrow and Saturday in to the new house.  Still lots of reorganizing to do with dogs and where they will stay, for parts of our journey, but it shall all work out..it always does....

Pictures:  Our farewell family picture after a solemn house to more Supertramp (Maggie's call); A stunning site Mags caught as we rushed towards SFO; "When the City of Lights goes dark, the rest of the world shall carry the light" - Mags quoted this to me;  Treasures of Darkness on Ocean Beach.