Day10: Where do the days go

man- as things are getting busier I am running out of time during the normal day to post.

Mike Herman blew into town yesterday.

Like the wind beneath my wings.

Mike, known affectionately as "Brother Kuma" from my college days, is a dear dear friend of mine who I got back in touch with via Facebook and Yahoo IM over the last year or so. I haven't seen him face to face in five bloody years.

Unfortunately, he was only here for one night, and one night only.

So I asked him- "what do you want to see?"

He wanted to eat sushi or pizza.
See City Lights Bookstore in North Beach
The Golden Gate Bridge
Haight Ashbury
and Golden Gate Park

And we did all of them. (I am shocked also)

Something about being around Mike's energy and having a late-night adventure with a random group of people helped to solve a curiosity I've been having for the last few weeks. It's a particular sensation I've been having lately. Usually in the evening. And as I'm listening to Filibuster (another aptly named brother from college) go on and on and ON and ON and ON (and on and on) - I still couldn't quite place my finger on it. I had had it last Saturday when EBee and I were walking on the beach and I ended up dropping my phone in the ocean. I also had it when J-girl and EBee and I ended up at Union Square the night of the election cheering with the crowd.

Something about the sensation is familiar, although I've never done these things before. But it isn't deja vu, and it isn't a past life experience...what the hell is this sensation? I know what it is, and yet I don't know what it is - and it' s driving me nuts.

Finally it hits me. We've finished dinner, and we go see the bridge, and we head into Haight Ashbury where we meet up with J-Girl, and we have a beer and then head into Golden Gate Park in the dark -it's now about 11:30 at night.

The air is chill- hands in pockets we're all discussing random topics as we smell the moist green/dirt smell of being deep among the trees. We come upon the baseball fields- eeriliy lit with the faint light from street lights far in the distance- all the sprinklers are on and the whole field seems filled with magical white cascades that seem to glow.

J-girl takes off her shoes and jacket and runs out among them... and the words become clear in my head for the first time: "this is the way I always want it to be".

Being in the moment. That's what the sensation is. Being present and realizing immediately when something is special and that it's happening RIGHT NOW. All of them- the beach, union square, the park last night - and the reason in particular that Mike highlighted it was that almost my entire college experience was Moments like that. Many he himself was present for.

No wonder it felt familiar.

I realized at that moment, that no matter what I do in my life, or what direction my carreer or path may take me - THESE are the things that I get the most enjoyment out of. Moments. Beautiful delishious moments that just ring true.

Every song I have ever finished writing is a Moment. I remember it every time I perform the song.

Every cup of coffee/talk I've had with J-Girl while sitting on the top of a hill in the dark is a Moment.

Every hike I've taken with Clo-Clo up a mountain.

Every time I simply sat on my fire escape and contemplated life - these are the moments that make up me. Make up who I am. Have made me grow.

I'm so glad I was able to identify that sensation- now it feels like an old friend.