The last few days have featured a slew of goodbyes, which has been especially uncomfortable for me.  I much prefer the Irish style.  But on the brighter side of things, it has brought me an overwhelming awareness of the incredible community of family and friends we’ve built here in San Francisco – a thing that is easily taken for granted in the casual ‘hi – bye’ exchanges we perform dozens of times each week.

Thursday evening I arrived, already emotionally spent, to dinner and drinks with many of our nearest and dearest.  I actively distracted myself with the sort of conversation I would have had on any other occasion.  And I stubbornly refused to say the word ‘goodbye,’ much preferring the alternative: ‘see you soon’ – which is more or less accurate.

In fact, I have not looked much farther into my future than tomorrow morning at 4:45am, when my alarm will go off and I will escort myself into the shower.  Sure, a 15 hour flight will soon follow, but I haven’t mentally prepared for that.  This whole thing would be far too overwhelming if I was to try to take it in at once.

A shower I can handle.

Once I do that, surely a drive to SFO shouldn’t be out of the question.  And a security checkpoint?  No biggie.  I’ve done lots of those.

It’s taken nothing less of a village to get us to where we are – and I’m so grateful to everyone who has generously given of their time, their love and their expertise.

From our many friends and colleagues who have eagerly sent us travel recommendations…to my father-in-law, who wrote us countless prescriptions for every malady we could possibly encounter during our time away…to my parents who did not laugh at me when I told them we were quitting perfectly excellent jobs to travel the world…to my mother-in-law who braved the Bay Bridge closure to come clean out our kitchen in preparation for our subleassors so that I wouldn’t be doing so at 4am…to my sister-in-law who fed us our last home-cooked meal…to my many dear friends who assured me they would still be here when I returned…

I feel fortunate to have so many good things to leave behind.  It’s not often that we can recognize with this kind of certitude the abundance of our own lives.  And so I figure, if that’s the most to come of this trip, I’d be more than pleased.

Oddly one of my more emotional farewells came last night as I stood at the edge of the bay – the turnaround point of my run – and watched the sun set behind the Golden Gate Bridge.  I’m convinced that San Francisco is the most beautiful place in the whole wide world.  But how can I be sure?  I think in my specific case it is appropriate to say: time will tell.