National Day

Got up and cooked my 20-year-old's standard breakfast -- six egg yolks and two whole eggs. He also made himself a bowl of cereal and fruit. He works a full shift today, starting soon. He drove my 16-year-old back to her Mom's on his way to work. My 19-year-old is camping with friends at Donner Lake.

Dylan knows his history so he probably is fully aware of what happened to the Donner Party that brutal winter in the Sierra Nevada.

Me, I plan to relax while keeping aware of any potential breaking news, since I am the "Weekend Editor." We don't have enough resources at KQED News to actually staff weekends, so on on a revolving basis, one of us assumes that role.

Should a big story break, such as a wildfire nearby, a terrorist act, or an earthquake, I would start contacting colleagues to see who could cover it. Let's hope that isn't necessary this weekend. But it is very hot Northern California; that plus fireworks means the fire threat is high.

The main event I was looking forward to today already happened, but the Giants played poorly and lost their fifth game in a row. It is mid-season now. Still a lot of baseball to go. I will probably watch other games on my (still) new TV, plus some of the patriotic movies that will no doubt be playing as the day moves along.

I can already hear occasional fireworks now and again. By tonight this neighborhood will be filled with smoke from their booms. No need to leave the Mission District to see fireworks on the Fourth of July.

Although I'll spend the day alone, I do not feel lonely. This is a change from times past. When I started this blog, I was recovering from a breakup, a painful (for me) breakup. I was 59. Several relationships later, I finally retired from dating four years ago.

I love all of my exes, each in her own way. I've been thinking of one particular former GF today because this is her birthday. Or maybe it was yesterday. Her parents were never really sure because she came into the world sometime over the night of the 3rd/4th of July in China and I guess they did not have ready access to a clock when she was born.

Twelve years ago we spent the summer together, here and on the road. I was not yet blogging. We went up to Nevada City and the South Fork of the Yuba River. We went out to Pt. Reyes and Ocean Beach. She loved the water, loved to hike and swim and to eat fish. She often also went with me to dinner with friends.

When she ate in American restaurants she often ordered a child's portion, because that's all she could handle at one seating. She was a lovely, tiny, brilliant, kind Chinese woman with long black hair and a wicked sense of humor. She always is the life of any party -- a jokester in both Mandarin and (back in those days) very poor English. Everyone was charmed when they met her.

When she last visited me a few years back, her English had improved to almost fluent. I think she works for the UN in Beijing. She is a graceful spirit on this planet who devoted herself way back then to the idea of "taking care" of me that summer of my second divorce. We shopped for food all over the city and she showed me how to cook, Chinese style. She kept me distracted. By the time she returned to her homeland, I felt strong enough to be on my own.

I also knew how to cook some pretty wicked spicy Chinese soups and to sp[eak a few words of Mandarin, which is a lovely language.

It was an amazing, brief chapter of my life, and today I am celebrating that summer and my memory of her.

I miss you. Happy Birthday, W!

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