Across the street ... across the country

Sunday

Dear Friends,

I  am in bed. Zing is on the floor looking up at me. He’s saying, “What’s happening?" 

Our Tallahassee neighbors are visiting. They have an Airbnb, but Ana is staying the night with us — she’s in the studio-guest room, finishing up a painting before bed. 

Zing may be a little confused at the change in routine, but it’s happy confusion. 

Monday

My friends from Tallahassee are here.  I am exhausted and delighted. And lucky. Too tired to say more!

Tuesday 

Kit, Irene, Henry and Ana lived across the street from us in Tallahassee. Over 10 years we got to know each other well. This summer they are visiting friends and family all over California, and I am lucky they spent the last two days with me in Sacramento. I mean, who goes to Sacramento? My friends appreciated the place. Irene likes the way the old houses and the newer ones complement each other. And the tree-lined streets, she thought, are not only shady but welcoming. They give the place a sense of intimacy and scale. Kit, who works for the State of Florida, could feel a different political attitude in the capital  here, and he played Clark's ukulele. Ana liked my balcony. She stayed for two nights — the first person to sleep on the turquoise daybed. Last night we stood on the dark balcony and watched the colored lights and the swooping crows and the yellow bridge and Raley Field, all lit up with a baseball game. Enchanted, Ana wanted to sleep on the balcony, but I said no.

Henry, a self-aware teenager, showed me how to operate the TV remote, and he made me laugh. And Kit and Irene remember Clark well, so I may have cried a bit with them, but not much. 

Ana and I wanted to go to the California State Fair, but the others said it was too hot, They were right. Today we had lunch at a table under the trees at the Roosevelt Park farmers market, near where men were playing basketball and soccer at noon. It was cooler than yesterday, and there was a breeze. 

Seeing Sacramento with them made me feel like I belong here. And it made me realize how lucky I am to have dear friends who help me connect my past with the future.

Love, 

k