nothing is forever

I got the job. I found out yesterday, a couple hours after the interview. I was so happy, I decided to do something spontaneous.

Yesterday morning, I biked by a couch that had been left out for trash. It was a totally sweet couch on the side of the street facing Lake Merced. You could watch the cars and the lake--the scenery from its POV was pretty sweet. I decided that I'd bike by the couch again, inspect it for dirtiness and bugs, and if it was clean, sit on it and watch the sunset, cars, and maybe the stars.

It was clean and like new. Why would someone throw away a perfectly nice couch? I moved it farther from the sidewalk and onto the dirt ground beside the road. I sat there and watched cars with my sunglasses on. Check it:



I got a lot of funny reactions. It was nice sitting there, but it would be so much funner if someone could share this with me. I called Scooter. He didn't answer, but I left a message with the words, "sitting on a couch on Lake Merced". He called back 5 minutes later and said he'd be there in 5 minutes.

He was across the street on his bike. I called out his name! I was so happy, I swear I couldn't stop smiling. "Tone it down, Elaine. Tone it down. Don't look so happy." He arrived, all smiles. We were laughing so hard about the couch. He said it was very comfortable. We sat at opposite ends so we could both recline. We talked about the Collective, movies, the new school year, travel. We talked until the stars shone--more than 3 hours we sat there. At one point, we sat there in the cold darkness watching the stars with nothing but the sound of cars passing us by. We didn't speak, we just looked at the night sky. All in the city. It was wonderful. I've never shared anything like that with a boy before. It meant a lot to me. He probably didn't feel the same way, but I don't care, that moment is mine and it's important to me. That's what matters.

He said he was hungry and asked if I wanted to get something to eat. We decided to hang out at the dorms and see if our friend was working--SY. We'd order pizza there. She wasn't working, but we hung out there anyway. He ordered the pizza. We ate and talked some more. I got home around midnight.

Today, my cousin drove me by Lake Merced--the couch was gone! I was saddened by its absence. I will never have that moment back again. I'm just so glad that I did what I did yesterday. It took guts--calling him. When I left him that message, I thought, "What did I just do? He's going to think I'm insane! Sitting on a couch beside the street!" But, he didn't, and he came, and he sat with me. Thank you, God, for that. I'll never have that moment, sitting there on a couch beneath the stars, but writing about it makes me feel better because it's immortal.