I imagine there are hundreds of people who flock into San Francisco daily just for the delight of visiting and exploring all the city has to offer.  Well, today Jeanette and I took BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) under the bay to visit with a different purpose.  As a child I was fortunate enough to live in the San Francisco Bay area (Rodeo) an my mother made certain that we, as children, were exposed to as much opportunity and variety as possible on her limited budget.  Her best friend Merle lived in the apartment below us (mother of my best and closest friend Albert) and owned a station wagon!  What a luxury.  In 1954 we had the grand experience of becoming a car owner of a new 1954 Chevrolet.  But it wasn’t a STATION WAGON!  Merel’s three kids and mama’s two youngest (which included me, as my older sisters wouldn’t be caught dead doing things with their younger siblings) would go on an adventure to San Francisco.  We all sat in the back of the expansive wagon and played imaginary piano keyboards on the wheel hubs that stuck up through the floor.  We waved at all the truck drivers and felt triumphant when they would honk their loud truck horns at us.  We would be mesmerized as we traveled close to the edge of the bay bridge and peered out across the bay at Alcatraz.  Many of the museums, exploratoreums and aquariums were free at that time.  We always packed a picnic because I don’t even know if fast food places existed back then.  If they did we didn’t have the money to go.  We would also go to the Palace of Fine Arts which was like a fairy tail wonderland to me.  High columns of magical doors and lakes that reflected the clouds skuttling by on a clear day.  We often lived at the zoo for an entire and never tired of our adventures to San Francisco.

And now, back to San Francisco.  I think over the years I have been to every garden, museum, tourist attraction, the different “towns” like China towns and eaten some delicious meals.  Most of the meals were after I was grown, not as a kid.  But today, San Francisco was for a different purpose.  Jeanette and I were visiting a  very special friend.  Her name Kay and I have know her since we were teenagers.  I saw her parents one evening in the basement of the J.C. Penney’s department store in San Leandro California and was bold enough (imagine that) to go up and and introduce myself (now remember I was a teenager) and to tell them how much I loved going to hear their daughter sing.  They were always with her at concerts when she performed with two other teens.  Their singing was so beautiful and had the unique harmonizing capability that caused the voices to sound like velvet.  Kay’s voice still sounds like velvet.  Her mom and dad were so impressed that I would come up to them and speak with them that they asked where I attended church.  They showed up the next week and attended there after because they wanted their daughter to know me.  Well, Kay and I hit is off from the beginning.  She was a couple years younger but it seems I always attracted the younger crowds because I willing to talk to everyone.  Sounds like I am patting myself on the back but I don’t mean for it to sound that way.  It’s just the facts and I never thought anything about it.

This entire family had a great influence on my life in future years.  They gave me a glimpse of what it was like to live in a beautiful home.  At one time I actually ended up living with them before I married so I could save for the wedding.

Well, today Jeanette and I were privileged to once again meet up with Kay.  We took the BART over and walked to a local cafe where Kay had taken a taxi to arrive.  We sat in the middle of a very old San Francisco building, in a quaint cafe that served the most fattening, greasy, butter soaked San Francisco Sour Dough French bread, grilled to perfection!  It was heavenly.  It is a good thing I couldn’t find any to buy and bring back with me.  That grilled sandwich was such a delicious fancy.  I just watched (almost in horror) as I saw the renditions of foods that came from that kitchen and covertly watch as those around me actually ate the entire plateful of food.  It was an amazing and interesting experience.

We three talked and talked and remembered and laughed and cried and just enjoyed the presence of friendship that only the old can really enjoy.  I am smiling just sitting here writing and thinking of those precious moments.  I so lived in the moment of those moments and soaked up everything I could.  I told Kay I wished she would would sing me a song.  Never in a million years did I think she would sing to me at the center table of a public restaurant, but she surprised me by singing the famous song about “San Francisco”.  I think the title is “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”.  She sang the entire song in her beautiful alto/tenor voice.  Her voice was a bit older and not as practiced as it was years ago when she sang on stage but it was so beautiful and throaty and heart searing, especially with the words she sang.  Then we sang together (quite low) but it sounded so good together.  All three of sang.  I think I was the only one that knew all the words to the song that started out with these words…”Oh what a wonderful, wonderful day. Day I will never forget”…  When Kay sang her solo tears were streaming down my face.

So soon it was time to leave.  Kay said she needed to use the Lady’s room and asked if I would take her.  The aisles were very narrow and we had to maneuver through a narrow galley kitchen.  I asked her to put her hands on the back of my waste as I walked slowly and guided her to the Lady’s room.  Kay has been blind since birth but never once has it caused a blindness in our friendship.  I truly believe our friendship was a divine appointment of God.  It is not just everyone who was privileged to have a friendship such as ours.  That night I met her parents in the basement of J.C. Penney’s fabric department was meant to be.  I am a better person for having Kay as my friend.  As we left the restaurant a man came us to us and told us how beautiful our singing was.  He said he kept looking around to find the source of the radio or player but couldn’t find it and then realized it was coming from our table.  He gave Kay high honor when saying he especially loved the way she sang “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”.  And when I walked away from the cab that would carry Kay back to her apartment I felt like I was leaving a bit of my heart in San Francisco too.

I asked Kay what her wisdom would be.  Here it is:  “Make every minute count and cherish the friends and family that you have because you never know when your circumstances might change or when you might lose your friends and family.”

The Bart ride back under the bay to the east bay side was such an amazing ride.  I have ridden BART many times when living in this area but it has been about 30 years.  In the past 30 years the traffic and freeways have increased exponentially and it makes riding Bart that  much more enjoyable.  About halfway home I had the opportunity to speak with a young man traveling from San Francisco International Airport to a city close by where Jeanette lives.  He was here on business from India.  We had an enlightening conversation and I asked him for his wisdom.  His name is Vikas.  Here is his wisdom: “Give back to the word in some way.  Help preserve the environment, help by giving food to those who need it and look around and see the many different ways you can help.”  Thank you Vikas.  If you read this blog please let me know by going to “contacts” and send me an email!  I wish you the best on your travels here in the States.  Thank you too for your conversation.

Well, I am hitting the road again tomorrow.  The end of my respite is over.  It has been a tremendous help to have a place where I could feel so comfortable and stay for a bit of an extended time.  I need to regroup myself every few weeks.  I thank Jeanette and Denny for this opportunity.

Lots more to say but I will use my wisdom and go to bed as early as possible as I must drive tomorrow.  I have a feeling it is going to be a jam packed day!  Seeing more family!  My special nieces!

Good night  10:14 p.m.