Last Morning in San Fransisco
I woke up this morning at 7 am and made the trek up to Twin Peaks to see the big pink triangle on the hillside. It’s been on my list of things to do this entire trip, and I decided last night that I was finally going to do it on our last morning here, as a sort of last hurrah. It was a 1.2 mile uphill walk that took me much longer than Google Maps said it would, but when I was finally up at the top, alone and surrounded by this thick, dense fog in all directions, I just felt a sense of calm and contentment. It was nice to take a moment just for myself, to reflect and, I don’t know, just really process the effect that the past two weeks have had on me.
In our last few hours at the condo before we have to leave, I’m finding myself constantly thinking about how badly I don’t want to. I don’t know if I’m the only one who feels this (most likely not), but I can honestly say that I feel like I’ve been able to come to see San Francisco as home in a way. That’s definitely naïve – I’ve only been here two weeks – but it’s how I feel nonetheless. And obviously I’ll be happy to see my friends and family when we get back to Wisconsin, but I just feel like this trip has made me develop a broader sense of where I belong, or where I could belong. It’s not like I’m gonna move to San Francisco immediately after graduation, but at least I know now that there’s a place for me somewhere further beyond and bigger than just Eau Claire. Even just the possibility that I could make a home for myself in a place like San Francisco feels like such a revelation for me.
And it’s not just the big things, the overall feeling of queer solidarity and community, that I’ll miss about being here. It’s the little things, too.
Some things I’m going to miss about San Francisco:
The Iced Mocha Tesora from Philz Coffee
Marcello’s Pizza
Late night stops for Hot Cookie
Actually good Mexican food
Okay most of these are just food, but still
Living in a beautiful condo with a chaotic cohort of my fellow queers
Feeling the freedom to be my most authentic self for perhaps the first time in my life