Destination: San Francisco, California July 22 – October 9, 2006

Our time in San Francisco has drawn to a close. It’s been a long and sometimes bizarre trip being back in our former home city, doing things familiar to us like visiting with friends, driving our truck, going to nei gong classes, and even doing a little office work (yes, I am consulting again for Mellon Capital Management and that’s a whole other story); yet strange, as we’ve felt unsettled and home-less even though we still own a home in San Francisco (but it’s empty and we’re in the midst of attempting to sell it so we can’t stay there) and in Christchurch (but we were only there for two months and now strangers have been there for longer). My sister and her fiancée graciously allowed us to stay with them for our duration even though we had to delay our departure by almost a month – we ended up living with them for longer than they’d lived together. It was a gift to be able to share space with my sister and have the opportunity to get to know her future husband – he’s a real gem. Shazaam!

I had thought I was going to play ‘tourist’ while in San Francisco – you know, do all the things I never got around to doing while living there. In our ten weeks, the only new things I managed to achieve were walking around Telegraph Hill searching and successfully seeing the wild parrots {I highly recommend the book and the documentary} and getting in an afternoon hike in Berkeley’s Tilden Park. I didn’t see any shows or go to any museums or movies. I didn’t hike and bike around. I didn’t watch TV (well, the only show I –happily– got suckered into watching was Project Runway and it was a good thing as it seems most of our friends are secret PR lovers!)

What we did do a whole lot of was visit with friends. Lots of lunches and dinners with our pals, generally out five or six nights a week, yakking and eating and sharing stories. At times I was a bit frazzled and the Libra in me struggled with wanting some very much-needed quiet and alone time versus wanting community and social time.

I am grateful for all my friendships and I think Bruce & I managed to see 99% of the gang. Many of you we saw frequently, a few only once. It was wonderful to catch up and hear about people’s progress on their path – it seems like 2006 brought, and is bringing, change for many (it’s that Saturn in Leo thing). Some good, some not so good – however, I have to believe it all happens for a reason and is important for our personal growth.

As we drew nearer to our departure, many of the emotions I felt when we moved back in February surfaced again – excitement to be going off into our unknown future; sadness in leaving our community behind.

But we must do what we must do and I very much appreciate all the support and love our family and friends have shown us. It’s important to acknowledge and honor this amazing group of people, so this is a shout out to you:

Grandma, moms & dads Guidi & Scanlon, Joy, David, Laura, Stuart, Darek, Ken, Kat, Drew, Daniel, Lilian, Mike, Mary, Mei, Johnny, Jim, Marla, Kelly, Ted, Ahzmeer, Michael F, Rich, Alex, Ryan, Aram, Tom, Eric, Jones, Lori, Susan, Harry, Pam, Dan, Manny, Suzy, Roni, Ella, Martina, Lang, Jo, Jack, Nane, Arianna, Mark, Rachel, Scott, Joanne, Anne, Gregg, Laura, Holly, Karie, Gerri, Amy, La Shon, Maria, Greg, Mark, Maja, Sinead, Irene, Michael R, Brendan, Jai, Charmaine, Cass.

Did I get everybody? I hope so.

We’ve had many a good laugh and many a good cocktail – may there be more in our future! I can’t wait for you to visit us in New Zealand (well, actually, I can wait, just a little bit, maybe a few months – the much-needed quiet time is about to come and is still much needed [grin])

Here’s to progress on our path!

ILY!