A day in the city, in the park, in the van

I woke up this morning, took a shower and went to the store to get supplies. Picnic supplies. Today was the day of picnic in the park with my two new friends.
Bread, cheese, turkey, peanut butter, tangerines, chocolate chip cookies, juice boxes and a six pack of Sierra Nevada Stout.
After I got all the sandwiches ready and packed up I called him. He was just waking up so I kicked back and listened to music for a while. Waiting. Lala.
I packed my blanket, my astrojacks and my Zing it in my sailormoon backpack along with my camera and some sunscreen.
Then they were here. He called me on the cell from the street. Usually people have a hard time finding my place. I don’t know why, it is on a main street, directly in-between two other main streets.
I went downstairs. We said our hellos and I gave the boy a little flashlight to have. It’s always nice to come with presents. Then we got in the van, buckled up and took off for Golden Gate Park.
I guess I have to name these people eventually. Let’s call them Dad and Jr.
We get to GGP and there are hundreds of people there. It was a beautiful February day in San Francisco. The sun was shining and there were cirrus clouds in the sky. A light breeze threatened to muss our hair but didn’t really get around to it. The field we were in was so huge there was plenty of room to get a place on the grass in the shade. We spread the blanket out and broke out the foodies.
Yum! Turkey and Swiss cheese sandwiches, tangerines and cookies. Very Berry juice for Jr and dark, bitter beer for the grownups! I love tangerines and Dad had told me that Jr liked them a lot so I brought half a dozen. I should have brought more.
We played ball, they mostly played ball, and I played with the astrojacks and the zing it. I handed Jr the camera, told him to go for it and he did. He needed very little instruction on how to operate the device. He took pictures of everything. Good ones, too. I will try to get them processed on Monday and have them up here for you.
We went to the carousel at GGP. It is really beautiful and old. There are so many different kinds of animals. There was even a frog wearing pants! There are photos of the carousel and the animals we rode on. It was all very exciting! I acted like a spaz, of course. I always do with things like this. It was nice having a kid with me so I was not the only one spazzing like I usually am. Later when Dad and I were talking I told him it wasn’t just that I was around Jr, I always act that way. I point and look. I say “ooooo! Looka that!” when I see something halfway interesting.
Then we left the park and drove to Half moon Bay which was a lovely drive, nice and clear. We stopped at this discount store and wandered around in the controlled chaos. I bought some sox. Three pair for about $2.50. I love sox.
By this time Jr was pretty tired and cranky. He finally laid down in the back and went to sleep. We drove around and talked and looked at the sights. We drove down Lombard st and up to Coit tower (it’s not phallic at all). We looked at the statue of Christopher Columbus marveling over the size of his hands and wondering why it was there.
We drove around some more. Stopped to look at a view and talk while Jr snored in the back of the van. We talked for a long time and it was really nice and comfortable. I didn’t feel like I had to watch what I said. We were just getting to know each other. Questions and answers, looking at stars and planes. Watching and wondering about cars and trains and big landmarks. He is a good driver and knows a lot about the city.
It was really fun. I had a great time. Even the silences weren’t uncomfortable.
Around 10:30 he suggested taking the snoring body back home and then us going out and doing something else. I declined because I was starting to get tired. Now here I am at home, tired, but happy.

Now it’s Sunday and I have been lazing all day. I wanted to go to the pub for barbeque and pool, but I just feel extremely lazy and don’t want to do anything but drink juice, watch crappy movies on network tv and surf the internet.
He called me a little while ago and said he is babysitting and maybe will give me a holler later if I would like.
I said I would love.
I keep looking at the photos we all took. They are still stored on the chip until tomorrow. I even made a little movie of the carousel. I am not sure how to get movies out of the camera and onto the Internet, but I’ll work on it.
Jr is certainly a little shutterbug. He took photos of everything. The food, us, trees, grass, my back patch, cigarette packs, half eaten sandwiches. Digital is so great.

Now I am thinking about him. Thinking happy thoughts, thinking nice thoughts. Not feeling so lonely. It was nice to hang out with someone all day that was actually nice to me, who asked me questions about myself and listened to my answers. Someone who called my by my name and not some stupid nickname that he made up and changed every half-hour.
Yes, I am comparing him to egg at every turn. Yes, he is stacking up pretty well. The fact that he has that stinking cute kid does not hurt his case a bit. Little redheaded boy. I always wanted a little redheaded boy. My little brother was a redhead. Lostboy is a redhead. My mom, too.

Bottom line?
Right now I feel good. Happy.
We’ll see how long it lasts.