SUCH A BEAUTIFUL DAY

10 October 2001

Yesterday I drove down to San Francisco to meet CompuServe friends, Pat and Tricia and Tricia's two lively, but enjoyable children Austin and Alana. We spent the day walking around the San Francisco Zoo. The kids ran, Pat and Tricia chatted, and I snapped pictures all afternoon.

At the end of the day I drove across the bridge to have dinner with my friend Olivia, see her pretty amazing new office, and tsk tsk over the world situation--and the inadequacies of "tech support" and "household help."

And then, when I left Olivia's house this morning, I had a wonderful lunch with SecraTerri. We had met face to face once before, before she and the famous David got married--the last time I was visiting Olivia, I think. At that time we sat and chatted and gossiped and got to know one another a bit, not just from our journals. But this was heavy duty Secra time. David wasn't along, and we were going to share a meal, for which David footed the bill (thank you, David--we only said very good things about you.).

We met at a diner which is walking distance from Secra & David's apartment. It was a run of the mill diner, as diners go, but we weren't there for cuisine. We were there to chat and gossip and get to the nitty gritty. And we did all three. It was delightful. Next time we're moving to heavy duty stuff: dinner. But that is for another day.

When I left the diner, it was such a beautiful day, that I decided to go take a walk around the park and along the beach which overlooks San Francisco Bay and the city beyond it.

The sky was blue, there was a cool breeze, and the park was filled with Canadian geese all hunting around the grass for food, or hunkered down for a rest. I walked along the path, enjoying the wind in my hair and the antics of the geese, and I thought about the CNN reports I had just left, with "live" photos of the bombing raids on Afghanistan. How could they be blowing up targets on the other side of the world when it was such a beautiful day?

I stopped to admire "my city," that shining City by the Bay where I spent my formative years and whose views I relish. A plane flew overhead and my eyes were compulsively drawn to the Bank of America building, the tallest building in San Francisco. Oh, it wouldn't make an easy target. It's not THAT tall, but I couldn't help but think about it being on a terrorist's "must destroy" list...or perhaps the Golden Gate Bridge. The events of 9/11 have changed my ability to appreciate a beautiful view. It was such a beautiful day, how could there be rubble mixed with decaying bodies on the streets of Manhattan?

As I walked along the beach, my ears heard the sound of water lapping gently on the sand, while in my head I heard the sounds of the bombing raids in Kabul and I wondered how there could be bombs exploding somewhere when it was such a beautiful day.

There were little birds playing in the pampas grass and I used my zoom lens to get some photos of the little guys, but my mind kept thinking about the news report I saw showing the dirty faces of the starving children of Afghanistan, their eyes old beyond their years with the sights of horrors I have never witnessed, and hope never to. How could there be children starving on such a beautiful day?

I thought of our humanitarian aid in Afghanistan and I remembered Priscilla, who bought a pickel for herself for dinner because that's all she had the money for. I remembered her question about how many people are starving in this country and why are we sending so much money to Afghanistan instead of feeding our own people

I wondered how there could be starving people in this country on such a beautiful day.

It was finally time to end my walk and go home. I got to the car and put the camera away. I was happy to have been able to experience such a beautiful day. And I felt sad about all the people in this country and across the world who can't take the time or energy to notice a beautiful day.

As I drove out of the parking lot, I passed an American flag waving against the blue sky.