THE PRICE OF FRIENDS by (me!) sandra, tvgp
rich people, you see.. they don't know what they're missin'
the fun! the adventures! the drama!
like the time my sister and i wanted to have a drink together at a local bar. like, really bad. it was one of those rare, rare, saturday nights when her ex-husband had their kids, and my ex-husband had our kids, and we both had a saturday night free
and all we wanted in the whole wide world was to hang out together, listen to some live music and have a beer
but we are both on what some people politely describe as
very tight budgets. and we knew we could only afford one beer each if we could beat the cover charge clock, so first thing my sister did was call to find out when the cover charge started, then called me back
"okay," she said, "cover starts at 8pm, but their clock is ten minutes fast, so really 7:50..
what time is it now?" she says, "oh my! can you put your make-up on and be down there in like, 5 minutes?!"
and i, phone in one hand, mascara brush in the other, said, "YES! i'm painting my face and putting on my clothes at the same time write now! love you! bye" -click.
and i really did.. somehow.. brush my hair, paint my face, and hop my pants on, and zip up my boots and run out the door and drive really safely fast, and found a parking spot, all in like, under 5 minutes
and i'm walk-racing from my parking spot to the brewery when the stupid light at the corner -only three storefronts away, turns BIG FAT RED and i have to stand there, panting, waiting for a bunch of stupid cars to pass by
gotta beat the cover... gotta beat the cover... come on cars! for goodness sake.. hurry up already!
and i did think about running in between the cars driving by.. a quick dash.. but then a STUPID POLICE CAR is making it's way around the corner, and i thought.. -k- maybe not.
so i'm tapping my feet, hands on my hips, waiting for the stupid animated walking man to light up, only.. exactly when the light changes, here comes a family to the corner,
that i knowthat i know but haven't seen in a long while. "hi sandra! how are you doin'"
and i realize in that moment, that despite the fact i was able to pretty my face, calm my hair, clothe my body, and drive my car, and find a parking spot, and make it three store fronts away from the brewery, all in under 5 minutes
i realize in that very moment that i'm not going to beat the cover. i'm going to pay the cover and enjoy a nice tall glass of water;
on the rocks, please.and so they ask me about me, and my kids..
and i ask them about them and their kids...
and the light has changed red to white five or six times by the time they go there way and i go mine.
darn it. those friends just cost me $5! MEANWHILE, my sister has a race of her own going on. she's doing the same thing.. brush in one hand, car keys in the other..
gotta beat the cover. gotta beat the coverand she speed-readies herself, runs out toward her car, only EXACTLY as she has the key in the ignition, and just before she closes the door, a neighbor comes over
starts in on what seems to be "a very important conversation!" -my sister tells me. and then with great animation, and arms thrown to the air, adds on, "about pigeons!"
and i'm just crackin' up listening to her tell her side of the beat the cover story
"ten minutes!" she cries, "for ten minutes she wants to tell me about pigeons!"
"lady.." -and of course she didn't share her thoughts out loud.. but she shared them with me.
over a nice cold beer, and with live music in the background. because despite the family i ran into and our ten minute visit on the corner of ray and main
and despite the neighbor that came to her car for a ten minute visit about pigeons. -somehow we both beat the cover clock. talked and laughed and danced together from saturday night 'til yawn.
and i was thinkin'
i was thinkin' how funny the whole thing was.. what an adventure it turned out to be and how much laughter it yielded
and when i read leonard stegmann's recycled post this morning about rich people, that's what it made me think:
how rich people; they miss out on these sorts of things.
Speaking of brain glitches... lost in san francisco (me!) sandra, tvgp
long ago and far away I requested sat august 19th off.. switched to working on a sunday, so I could, on the Saturday, go see my friend, former manager, anne, in her debut hula performance at golden gate park in san Francisco. important to note, this is not the -vegas/show girl, touristy hula type dancing, but rather the -authentic/cultural traditional hula..
I think she has been taking lessons for 2 years plus..
so -no one can go with me. I opt to go on my own, daring to do so ONLY BECAUSE I would be going to the same place in
Europe I went before with gerry... and could follow the same route: bart to embarcadero, to bus 5... /and only know that, -not because I remembered on my own, but because of how my blog serves as my external memory storage and I had written about it..
skip, skip..
off at embaracadero -and up the stairs.. and... bus 5? every bus stop has several different numbers, but not a 5 among them. around in the circles, and finally ask a person in a neon vest
"oh. so if I walk up two blocks... "
and sure enough, two blocks up, a bus stop with a number 5 option.. pop in $2.50... ask, and learn I need to exit at 10th to get to golden gate park.
visit with a couple of my fellow bus-mates.. all native san Franciscans.. one with a bag that had ALOHA printed on the front.. so apropos..
all is well. exit at 10th... and now I am to find, pioneer meadows...
"you've never heard of it either?" -no one. circles, circles... check the list..
nowhere to be found, ask the shuttle driver, -nope. and so I finally surrender, realizing that her performance has already ended by now, and so..
may I report here, that ive never been lost in a more beautiful place in my whole life! when I saw botanical gardens.. and then adults $8... I jumped write in, and joined a tour that had only been already in progress about 5 or 10 minutes..
took lots of pictures; great joy!
and then, not enough cash on me to also visit de young... so, headed home.
home?
and so, I went searching for a bus stop with #5....
and searching...
and back.. and forth... and two blocks up... and two blocks over....
past the homeless man under the big tree... along a narrow sidewalk... where for art thou bus stop with number 5?
and then it started getting cold, and then it started getting dark, and then it started getting late.
and then, I stood at the next bus stop I could find, giving up on finding a #5 because my feet were aching. I looked at the map. and that is all I can do; look. I cannot understand, make sense of...
such a simple question:
do any of the buses that stop here go anywhere near embarcadero bart station?!? yes or no?
stare at map. I have no frickin' idea... its all just a bunch of squiggly lines; it's like looking inside a computer, or anything with a million small wires...
yes. I see all the wires.. criss crosses of colorful confusion... I have no idea where they originate or where they go or what they do... its just abstract art to me. nice curves.. loops... pretty colors.. fascinating design... tells me nothing.
when a bus finally stopped I said to the driver,
"where is a bus stop with the bus 5?!" -and he started giggling.
"that's on the opposite side of the park" /my feet were throbbing..
"well, how can I get to embarcadero bart station? do you go there?"
he laughed out loud. "you're on the wrong side of the street. cross the street, on the other side, bus 7"
/can you trust a bus driver who is giggling.. having a hard time containing his laughter..? might just like to toy with tourist and people who don't know east from south?
but he convinced me that if I crossed the street, bus 7 would get me to embarcadero bart station.
I knew if I tried to navigate my way to
'the other side of the park' to get to a bus stop with #5, i'd end up in Detroit, so
$2.50 in bus 7... "I was told you will go to embarcadero bart station...? please.."
can you trust a man with a Russian accent who paused for 15 seconds before answering with a slight nod? and questionable
yes
I was so nervous he would forget to tell me...
"is this where I exit?" 5 stops in, and he smiled... not yet. i'll tell you.
/i'll bet you'll tell me... but I will not be still sitting on this bus, as everyone else exits.. I will not be on this bus alone... wherever the group exits; i'll exit..
and so, many stops later.. many. stops. later. people getting on, people getting off..
my occasional eye-contact through the rear view mirror with the Russian bus driver, which clearly communicated in anxious American English
don't forget about me.. embarcadero station...
and eventually, "you get off here." all handsome, and nice and trustworthy
and, even though I was at address 555, I remembered I had seen a 333, and I might not be able to read a map, or know west from north but I can know direction by whether the addresses increase or decrease.. so
with aching feet I walked a few blocks to "embarcadero station!"
and,
awful, missing anne's debut hula performance... sorry my friend, "Congratulations!!"
but wonderful, getting lost in the botanical gardens! -concluded that visit by finding my very own two black n' blue birds of great happiness. now, I have fed/seen pigeons this close.. and black birds, crows, finches... but this is the closest ive ever been to these colorful Audubon delights: stellar jays
In Jesus, is the spiritual map to heaven, 's name... amen!
