Like most stories, there's a beginning, a middle, and an end.
What makes a story so captivating though is not necessarily what happens at the beginning, middle, and end. It's what's in between those pivotal moments.
And like a good story, there are many parts in which things aren't always peachy. But that's what makes good copy, or so my mom says. It's those bumps in the road that matter, those adventures in which at the time you're crying and cursing at your misfortune, but later, you're looking back with understanding, particularly because you overcame something.
It's been awhile since we last caught up.
I believe the last time I chatted with you, I was optimistic and my road trip was going swell, just swell.
Well, my sister left, and things slowly spiraled downward.
Don't get me wrong, nothing was "bad", per say, but things weren't going how I pictured them to be.
Let's see, the morning my friend Jo arrived, my poor Fiat was victim to what San Franciscans call a "smash & grab." Essentially, they bust a window out your car and grab whatever's easiest to run away with. Apparently, there are over 33,000 cases of these crimes a year in a 7 miles by 7 miles wide city of San Francisco, and mine happened to be one of them. What's worse is that two cop cars slowly coasted by during this ordeal and didn't bother to ask if I was okay.
I guess a hysterical crying young woman with a busted window isn't important enough on their radar.
Just as well!
On top of that, and my speeding ticket in Bridgeport (never been pulled over in my life!), I had to deal with the unpleasantness of California drivers, and California parking (or lack thereof). It brought out the sensitive Sally in me who cried behind her sunglasses. My Laker team also lost to the Warriors, my friend Jo got sick the last day, and I didn't find a job.
Despite this all, I still had one of the most memorable (and at the time, frustrating) trips of my life.
Although there were many moments in which I felt that my move to San Francisco wasn't meant to be. Instead of a movie style greeting where the small town girl gets to the big city with dreamy eyes and a bright future, I was greeted with a speeding ticket, a smashed window, middle fingers, and a lot of money spent on parking meters, I just now realized that it all made for a good story.
This is what adulting is and it's not going to get any easier. But that's okay. That's what makes good copy, and I know that my attitude in the future has to be about confidence, not certainty. In the space in which something happens and my response, there lies an opportunity to choose my response, and in that response lies growth. Do I let the unfortunate things that happened consume me, let it dictate how my trip was? Or do I take them as lessons learned and write it down and decide to grow and learn from my experiences?
There were more pleasant memories during this trip which far outweighed the misfortunes, like getting hit on in a bar in Haight on St. Patty's Day by a true drunken Irishman, walking ten miles from Fisherman's Wharf across the Golden Gate Bridge with one of my dearest friends, seeing an epic (first half) game between my faves the Lakers and Warriors, being reunited with my besties from college, and having spent quality time with my sister.
According to Nora Ephron, everything is copy. And not all good copy has to contain good stories. It's often the misfortunes and how you react to them that make them good copy...
