Self was at the San Francisco Airport. It was still a most gorgeous day. That is saying something.
The sky was so, so blue. She was on her way to pick up son. “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer” was playing on the car radio (It is so odd to be listening to reindeer songs while stuck in traffic on the 101!)
She missed her exit because, just at the moment when she should have switched to the furthermost right lane, she was diverted by a thought of the photographer Stella K, who told self just a few days ago that she will be in Bacolod in February. And self had just e-mailed her about visiting a sugar central. And then, whoops! She saw the sign for the airport, but to her right was a senior citizen in a bright red jeep, and this feisty elder just would not give way, even though self kept waving her arms and smiling and going yoohoo. Self finally made a mad dash to the right (luckily, no police cars in sight), and suddenly
BEEP!!! BEEEP!!!! BEEEEEP!!!!
All hell broke loose on Highway 101 South. And who was it causing such a ruckus? A lone Asian woman in a beat-up grey car who was furious because self was trying to edge into her lane.
Hey, Asian woman! Can’cha see there’s another Asian woman here? We Asian women have to stick together, be like sistahs!
But no way! Asian woman in beat-up grey car was definitely not into the holiday spirit. So self ended up having to take the San Bruno Avenue exit. Then she was in some building with the rental cars. Then she was in a parking garage that was off limits to all but police cars. Then she was seeing all sorts of freeway signs sprouting all over the place.
Self wanted the terminals, dammit!
Then, her cell toodled. And because self knew it was son, she picked up, even though she knew it was AGAINST THE LAW! And son had arrived!
And self bleated, “Just a minute! I am parking!” (Self, you are such a liar! But one must maintain one’s image of cool to sole fruit of one’s loins!)
And son said, “I’m out here on the curb already!”
And self replied, “Then I won’t park! I’ll loop around!”
And son said, “OK!”
Then, just as self was looking madly for any signs pointing to the terminals, she found she’d somehow arrived at Terminal 2/ Arrivals Level. And not one minute after she’d spoken to son, she saw him waiting right in front of her. Like a mirage. A veritable miracle.
And self was all so Happy Happy Joy Joy! But she couldn’t show it, because it is essential for a mother to maintain at all times a mien of imperturbable cool.
Anyhoo, how very strange because, after that, even though self’s neck had begun a tell-tale throbbing hours earlier, when she was madly circling the parking lot of the Main Post Office on Broadway, she felt suddenly pain-free. And when she got home, she even managed to do a little work in the garden. And noticed that a small abutilon in the side yard was suddenly blooming with the deepest orange flowers. And there is just no explanation for such a phenomenon, because self has not watered in weeks.
She also ordered a Shooting Star from the Solutions catalogue (20% off!) even though there is no way it will arrive by Christmas.
* * * * *
On another front: Self had a piece picked up by Rhino! She just learned from a message from Angela Narciso Torres! Thank you, Angela, you just made self’s entire month! (That’s the fifth piece self has had picked up for 2012. Funny, she’s always had this superstition that her “lucky” years are odd-numbered years. Maybe not.)
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
