When I was about nine years old, my parents started toying with the idea of moving to San Francisco, and we flew out for a few days to look at houses. I remember this trip so vividly, mostly because for a city girl growing up in a smallish apartment, the idea of a for-real house was almost too exciting to handle. I remember seeing a house with a looping driveway bordered by weeping willows; another one with a huge, wide-open field out back and an exercise pool on the deck; a third one with a Spanish-style roof and a big staircase with a railing perfect for sliding down.
And then my parents – probably worried that I wouldn’t want to leave my school and my friends – said, “If we move to San Francisco you can have a golden retriever puppy.”
My bags were practically packed.
…And then, for whatever reason, we didn’t end up moving. No puppy for me.
I remember crying – quite a lot, actually – when my parents told me we’d be staying in New York. But my distress over our aborted plans makes sense, puppy or no, because oh my god…
It is heaven here. The city of San Francisco itself is great – beautiful, vibrant, lots of stuff to do, all that – but Marin County? Something else entirely.
People have told me how gorgeous Marin is, but I don’t think I could have imagined just how gorgeous; it’s kind of like the best parts of Los Angeles (weather, ocean) mixed with the best parts of New England (forest, nice people, clean air).
Yesterday Morgan and I got a babysitter for the boys and headed to Mill Valley for a girls’ lunch, and I honestly felt like I was in paradise.
It smelled like pine needles and apple pie. For real.
We ate this, which was an excellent idea.
And then, after a walk back to the car in the sun, we went home to discover this:
Best friends! I love it.
This has been the best week ever – for both of us, I think.
P.S. See? Mama uniform basically exactly, from the baseball tee to the army jacket to the gold necklace. (Except, contrary to everything that seems logical, I don’t actually own pointy-toe leopard flats, and had to swap in my 5050s.)
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