I Left My Heart...

I don't really care that people get upset with me when I say that San Francisco is the best city in the world. It is. Thanks to my Dad and Mom I've had the blessed opportunity to visit some of the world's most revered cities; Paris, Rome, London, New York, Maui, New Orleans, and so on. Each has something special to offer, but none make me long quite like San Francisco. I still get butterflies in my stomach whenever I drive across the Golden Gate or make that final approach into SFO right over the water of the Bay. There's nothing like it.

Going home for the holidays certainly was lovely. We got to spend some time with my Dad and Step-Mom in Stockton, which ended way too soon. I also got a chance to do some fun wedding planning as well. There were many a night when Keith, my Mom, Lisa and I sat around pulling pages out of wedding magazines to put into the Martha Stewart wedding planning album my Mom got me. In fact, I even bought a wedding dress. (I would put a picture up but Keith isn't supposed to see it until the wedding day.) It was the kind of fun I haven't been able to have in Virginia. It was really nice.

Keith caught quite a cold after we left LA, so he was out of commission for a few days. I had the same cold but got over it much quicker than he did (poor baby!). This afforded me the opportunity to take a run over to Sutro Park. It was just as I had left it overlooking the gorgeous Pacific Ocean and the picturesque Cliff House Restaurant.

Sutro was a big part of my formative years growing up. My Mom and Dad moved us into the house on 45th when I was still in elementary school. For me, Sutro Park brought back memories of falling sideways off my bike and wrecking my knees, working out teenage angst while watching the fog come in off the ocean, and impromptu picnics on the hard-to-come-by sunny San Francisco days.

 Wanting to see more, I remebered that Lands End had undergone a total renovation. This hiking trail starts at the Cliff House and takes you all the way to the Palace of the Legion of Honor. The gravel pathway is nestled right into the edge of the mountain that overlooks that hidden secret place where the ocean meets the Bay. These were three of the pictures I took on my hike around Lands End. I ran some, I walked more and I stopped to read about the shipwrecks that had befallen many a sailor over the years.

So many memories of growing up came flooding back on this hike. Friends loved and lost, camping in the Marine Headlands with the Daycamp I volunteered at many summers ago, sleeping on the floor of the living room after the '89 quake, and how cute I looked at Prom. Now that Keith and I are moving into the next chapter of our lives together, I look forward to sharing how amazing SF is with him, as he has done in LA with me.

You don't realize how much you miss your family until you come home and leave again. Our departure was much like a scene in a movie; we had just gotten through security at SFO and people are furiously putting on their shoes as TSA voyeurs inspect every move. My Mom and sister are on the other side waving and mouthing for me not to cry. I have my head buried in Keith's chest bawling like a little kid, not sure when I would be back. I am sure, however, that I will be back. That's where my heart is.

Comments

[TMW]

I pray you guys are back sooner than later!!!