Visits!

My friend Mitra came to the neighborhood On Wednesday night; she is a college professor and novelist in New York and she edited my ebook. We've always had a great connection and our conversations go on for hours. She is about to finish her first novel quite soon.

Then, on the coming Tuesday my sisters Nancy and Carole are due to arrive. I'm so excited to see nancy for the first time since 2009 and Carole for the first time since 2013. The four of my kids in the area and all six grandchildren will visit as well.

So I've been sprucing up this dingy flat best I can.

My mobility is limited, however, because my car has broken down. The ignition system was the cause of the many times the car wouldn't start in recent years, not the battery, which I had replaced two weeks ago.

It turns out that the ignition components were literally broken and very hard to extract. As of the end of Friday I had not heard back from the mechanic whether a repair is even possible, which is scary.

But I hope for the best.

Nice chat with Aidan in Missoula, where he seems settled in and doing well in his classes. Current interest as far as a career: social work.

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Our Talk

Tonight, my youngest and I had a great conversation for the first time in weeks as I was driving her to an appointment. It sounds like she is getting very comfortable back at her old high school and also that she is benefiting from her time away at Oxbow. She recently led a book group discussion about Huckleberry Finn and talked about how awkward conversations about race can be for teens, but she's glad they are doing it. She said she is completely comfortable now with public speaking.

That an English class would excite one of my kids was not a revelation but then she told me she likes Chemistry a lot and also Pre-Calc! I have to go back many, many years since one of my kids (Peter) said they really like their Science and Math classes. She said she realizes she likes the "nerdy" parts of those subjects. Since she is getting more interested in medicine as her career, this might be a very good sign.

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Another Old Friend Gone

Michael Kennedy died today. From his office on Pine Street just around the corner from our office on Fillmore Street, he was our pro-bono lawyer and my personal introduction to many of the leading lights of our generation. He was a passionate progressive, a radical lawyer, defending many of those who faced witch hunts in the Nixon era.

And also a generous friend with a big heart.

May he rest in peace.

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Waiting Room

Today Aidan's girlfriend, Zaira, had to have surgery at General Hospital, the main entrance to which is about four blocks from my house. He took her and her mother there at 7 a.m. and I joined them about an hour later.

Zaira and her family are Mexican-Americans and everyone in the family has a different status in the eyes of the immigration authorities. So her father cannot drive and her mother does not know how to and her little brother is too young. There is also the horrible fear of deportation hanging over her parents.

So Aidan played that role -- driver.

When I got there I could tell both Maria (Zaira's mom) and Aidan were under terrific stress. We did not really have much reliable information on the medical issues surrounding her surgery and Maria was visibly nervous; Aidan not at all. (Not a good sign for a man.)

There was a TV-like screen in the tiny waiting room, which purported to tell us the status of our patient. Each patient was listed as a number plus the first two letters of their first and last name. But the display was broken and most of the time Zaira's name was under an error sign.

There was also a telephone number we could call, which was great, but they had only the most general information about her status.

When it got to be noon, Maria had a friend who owns a Mexican restaurant in the Excelsior deliver us lunch -- burritos and quesadillas -- and refused to let me pay for them. By this point, I had long exhausted my Spanish, both in talking with her and with others who arrived in the surgery waiting room.

The most poignant were a couple with their three-year-old daughter. The father and the daughter were crying and the mother was stoic. I asked them what had happened and it turned out their five-year-old daughter was having emergency surgery to remove her appendix, which had burst.

I was able to navigate my very weak Spanish enough to assure them that in most cases this would turn out okay and they seemed to calm down. After not a long time, the doctor came to tell them their daughter is okay but will need to stay in the hospital 2-3 days while she recovers.

Meanwhile, we continued to get mixed messages from Zaira's doctors, that she she came through surgery fine but then, when she woke up, not so good.

Aidan and Maria went in to see her as soon as she woke up but she didn't speak, was very pale, and in obvious pain. Aidan had gone down to the hospital store and bought her a stuffed animal -- a white cat with blue eyes. As he was holding it coming back up to the third floor, someone asked him if it was real.

Although she was still too sedated to talk, when she saw the cat she grabbed it and held it close.

At this point, our waiting game started. They kept saying she could go home soon, but as it turned out she was having a very bad reaction to the anesthetics -- throwing up, falling down when she tried to stand up and other symptoms.

Eventually they discharged her and Aidan drove her home, but we are awaiting word whether enough of the symptoms have subsided that we can rest assured she truly is in recovery mode.

Meanwhile he somehow has to handle all of this and get to his flights back to Missoula tomorrow, without her. He will set up the apartment they are moving in together. I am so proud of Aidan's character at this moment. So proud.

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MLK's Last Speech

As I often do on this date, here is his last speech, and his greatest speech.

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Birthdays

We celebrated my youngest grandchild's birthday today. Daisy is two. I also got to give my oldest grandchild his gifts; James is 9.

At the end of the day, my car battery died and I called roadside assistance. It turns out Daisy thought the big truck with flashing loghst showed up for her party and she was thrilled...

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Cleanup

Ten years ago I worked on a project with a group of talented people here. We produced an entire issue of BIG magazine (BIG 54) consisting of photos and a few words -- all about San Francisco. Last night we gathered to celebrate the tenth anniversary of working together and it was truly great to see old friend again.

One of them is a special long-term friend, Mary, who helped me find the flat where I live after the breakup of my second marriage. She is talented designer, yoga instructor, water boarder, and healer -- the type of diverse person who thrives in the Bay Area.

Two others -- David and Rhonda -- are also great designers who helped me get consulting jobs, including at Wikipedia.

***

Tomorrow the plan is for lunch with my first GF after that breakup 12 and 1/2 years back...she is in SF briefly from Beijing. I last saw her 6 and 1/2 years ago, so it will be good to catch up.

*** Two of my sisters plan to visit next month for the first time in years -- since Laila's wedding. That prospect has spurred me to begin cleaning up my apartment, finally. My goal is to have it back in shape by the time they arrive. I worked all morning and when my friend Tomoko came by for tea, she said it looks great already!

As I clean up I keep finding little treasures from the past...hand-made books by the kids, old photos, all sorts of stuff. I'm trying to throw away things that really are of little use as part of the massive cleanup.

Once the place is decent I may hire a professional to come in and help me get it to the finish line...