Poison Oak
The last couple of weeks were consumed by poison oak. My fiancee went camping and came home covered. Soon, it was all over me. It was a severe enough case that we both ended up on steroids.
You itch (obviously). Your face swells up. Your eyes swell up. It hurts to look around, to laugh, to smile. The rash effects your sleep. The steroids effect your sleep. The steroids make you strange. The itching and drugs and lack of sleep makes you strange.
Now I’m reemerging. Yesterday, I felt that the sun and I made a remarkable reappearance after weeks underground, under clouds. And what a beautiful day, riding through the city on my bike with pals! Falling in love with this city all over again.
Because of Tommy’s work, I know we won’t be able to live in San Francisco forever. We would if we could. Knowing that you have to leave a place that you love creates a bittersweet, preemptive nostalgia. But it means that I will never take this place for granted. Every single day I feel lucky to live here. Every day I see something beautiful and unexpected.
I feel grateful for San Francisco, and I feel grateful for the poison oak. Sometimes you need to feel incredibly uncomfortable for a couples of weeks to remember how amazing normalcy feels.