Can you really go home again?
After landing in Oakland 3 hours late last night/early this morning and whisking thru the rain slicked streets and across the Bay Bridge into San Francisco, I made it to my dentist appointment with a few hours sleep under my belt. My favorite dental hygienist scrapped, poked and polished my teeth to a brilliance I haven’t seen in close to a year, sternly reminding me that I shouldn’t wait an entire year between cleanings.
Afterwards, I motored down the Peninsula in the Republican’s fabulous Mercedes Benz to visit my old colleagues from jobs of yore. The first stop was the company that moved me to the furthest reaches of Siberia (AKA Chicago). I talked briefly with the man that was kind enough to give me the opportunity to sample the 4 seasons of the Midwest, and he was nice enough to remind me of how I longed for those seasons when I lived here in the Bay Area. After him, I visited with the others I worked with day in and day out. It was good to see all of them and catch up all their lives.
Next, I took a chance and visited the location of my first ever job. Japan Airlines Cargo. It was the nicest, warmest welcome I’ve had in years. They seemed genuinely happy, albeit surprised, to see me. It has been close to 4 years since I made an effort to stop in and say hello to the people that truly helped shape the adult I would become and it was so nice to revisit my past with them and see them all once again. At the time I worked with these people, I dreaded them, being the age of their children, I was often treated as such and never given much respect for my abilities or my knowledge. Today, they saw a different me. A happier, healthier grown up me that every one of them commented on. I’m still all fuzzy thinking about it. So I need a drink.