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Tuesday, October 07, 2008

i'm leaving my heart in san fransisco

I held my love one last time in the glare of the airport hotel bathroom. The light hurt his eyes, and I held him tight before saying goodbye. It will be over a month until he visits me in Vancouver.

I took two rocky plane rides to begin my latest adventure. Flying to Minneapolis, to San Fransisco, where I joined my brother and my parents to celebrate my cousin's wedding. From here I will drive to Vancouver with my parents, where I will do my internship at CTV before heading off to visit them in France. With all this travel lined up, I take a deep breath, and feel like myself again. The excitement of life and unexpected pleasures run through my body once more.

Our first destination, San Fransisco, has been a celebration. The wedding took place in a small town outside of the city, an old hippie community that has also turned into a gay community in the past 15 years. I've never been in a small town that felt so open minded.

We stayed in a small kitschy resort of small cottages, other family members in different themed ones across from us. Ours was something along the line of a wilderness mountain theme.

Our first night relatives poured into our cottage to say hello, drink in hand, and for a notoriously distant family we talked late into the night. We feasted on real, spicy, Mexican food, and I licked my fingers and praised California.

The next day my cousin, soul mate, and inspiration, was married. She married in the backyard of a friends house, with a Mexican day of the dead theme. An alter commemorated friends and family, gone but there in spirit. The dark skies cleared up, and they exchanged honest vows, danced to Johnny Cash, fed each other cupcakes, and enlightened all my ideas on how a marriage should take place.

Once again, we feasted on Mexican food. I licked my fingers and praised California once more. I made my first wedding speech, to the woman who has made it to every wedding whether she had money or a ride to get there.

The after party was at a gay bar on a leather fetish night. They are a pretty crazy couple after all. I took pride in introducing a group of young gay men to my parents: "...yeah, we go to gay leather nights together all the time."

We wished the couple all the best, and left back into the city the next day. We enjoyed the sights and sounds of San Fransisco, ate clam chowder and crab, tasted garlic ice cream at The Stinking Rose restaurant, and headed out to a friend's house where I write now.

I am hoping to find my writing again over the next few months. To find parts of myself I have forgotten. If there's anything I appreciate in life, it's a change of scenery and a new adventure.

remembering those who have left us
grandma young
day of the dead
the altar
roses
oscar and ayah
first dance
bella
cheeky bride

7 Comments:

Blogger Miss Robyn said...

Your cousin looks so beautiful.

Best of luck my love on your embarking adventure behind a desk, phone, camera, edit suite and everything else that they'll have you doing.

Oh and check out B's blog. I'll link mine to it. xoxo

11:41 AM  
Blogger MiMi said...

Gillian,

How exciting! I hope you have a fabulous time! Through all of your recent post your longing for travel and excitement has been evident. Enjoy It all!!!!

12:38 PM  
Blogger Mb said...

Gill-

This is bizarre...

Just few hours ago, I landed in San Francisco and checked into a hotel that says its a 'joie de vivre' hotel.

I started googling for what it meant on Google Images and found your photo holding a postcard in hand. I followed the link to an article that had the phrase I was googling. And then I spent my entire evening going through each and every one of your blogs. It was a very captivating read. And then I find this post that you wrote from SF this morning...so strange. We were so close but yet so strangers until this evening.

World is small and somehow everyone is connected.

8:32 PM  
Blogger Wishing A Coma said...

i can't even talk about san fransico without tearing up. i miss it so much. i will hopefully be back there soon.

6:10 AM  
Blogger Gillian Young said...

robyn-Thanks beauty, looking forward to seeing you in France!

Mimi- I will, so excited! Thank you!

Mb- What a great comment and coincidence. It makes me smile to know a picture of me comes up under 'joie de vivre'. Glad you found my blog, hopefully you will continue to follow. Have a great time in San Fransisco, I head out tomorrow!

Wishing a coma- Did you used to live here?

8:58 PM  
Blogger Wishing A Coma said...

i was moving there actually - backed out last second because of work - but it still sits in the back of my mind all the time - remembering the vacations i took that i never wanted to leave. i think im heading out there in the next few weeks and maybe it'll stir up something big enough to get me to move out there once and for all.

6:29 AM  
Blogger la femme said...

How beautiful. I like the Mexian Day of the Dead theme too. Your cousin has an amazing sense of style.

5:28 PM  

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