Thursday, April 21, 2011
Birthday Letter to Momma
#4 Letter to Momma
April 21, 2011
Thursday: Glorious and Sunny and Cool!
San Francisco, CA.
Momma –
More decades ago than I care to count, you gave birth to me at Crawford Hospital in Atlanta, and that was the beginning of a merry chase I took you on for most of those decades to follow! I can only imagine what it was like having me for a daughter, and no matter how much you loved me – I know how dearly you did and do – being my mother could not have been a walk in the park. My strong, willful spirit must have challenged your patience, tested your limits, and pushed your buttons more times than you could count, and there must have been times when putting your hands around my scrawny neck and choking me to death crossed your mind! It is a true sign of love that I am still living and you were not sent to an insane asylum or prison, so thanks for those years when you put up with all I threw at you. Thank you for being strong.
But most of all: thanks for creating me in the first place.Today is my birthday – my first in this wondrous city that I’ve chosen to be my home – and I want to share it all with you.
If only I could show you how San Francisco Bay sparkles in the April sunshine, and how the soft breezes that seem to caress this city uniquely make the water glint as it dances.
If only you could have been at breakfast with me this morning, after I dropped Peter off downtown for work: I decided to pretend I was a tourist and treat myself to a birthday breakfast at the Buena Vista down at Fisherman’s Wharf. It was so filled with life, and the waitress –typical of SF’s service folks – was chatty, warm, friendly and informative. I still consider myself a tourist here, and wanted to share my San Francisco joy with others who are here for the same reason: to experience it all with newness and delight. I went to Ghirardelli Square, bought myself some birthday chocolates, sat on a bench and wrote about Alcatraz, then went back to my car parked on a steep hill, and drove home to write at my desk.
My desk that, along with me, lives here now!
This city is the best gift I could ever have asked for, for my birthday or any other day. As I sit, overlooking Lombard Street, considering the people who schlep up the hill to go see the “crooked-est street in America”, I love them for their endurance and caring. Maybe, when the weather is warmer, I’ll go set up a lemonade stand and help those tourists up the hill with some liquid refreshment! They earn it climbing that stretch. Maybe I just will!
Because this city – at this time of my life – brings out my best self, and I want others to feel what I feel here: welcome, supported, cared for, stimulated, happy, interested, excited, nourished!
And I won’t even charge them a nickel!
As ever,
Evalyn
Labels: Momma Letters SF
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