You have everything you need for complete peace and total happiness right now. -Wayne W. Dyer
As I am thoroughly revived through sunshine, food, and relaxation in The Town Where Time Does Not Reside, I’ve finally found some time to process my feelings and thoughts on my summer spent in the Bay Area. It was a hard decision to make to go out there in the first place. I wasn’t going to be able to sublet my room in Miami, and I’d have to rent a place in the Bay as well as get my plane tickets and everything else during that time. But I got a job that I knew I would love and I had a strong feeling inside of me that I was meant to spend an extended period of time being in the Bay and living the West Coast life. So I thought about it, prayed about it, and made an extensive budget sheet. At the end of the day, It boiled down to how happy would I be there. I knew I needed to leave Miami for some time to really be able to reflect on the year and move forward, and I knew that I loved my friends out there, many who I had not seen in 2 years. It didn’t take much convincing after that, as I signed my contract with College Track, bought a one-way ticket to San Francisco, and joyously texted all my friends in the region.
It could not have been a better summer.
My roommate Cameron noted that he believed I had the best summer of anyone who has ever had a summer ever. His words are pretty close to the truth. I’ve always said that home revives me after long series of being ‘on the move,’ and Miami is the site of work that I feel fulfilled by. But the Bay Area…it was like a completion–I felt holistically vibrant in all aspects of my life. There would be times I would be on my bus ride with a book in my hand, crossing the bay, and then rest my head on the window, breathing out a sigh of contentment. Everything was right–I had everything I needed for complete peace and happiness.
Now, there were obviously people I missed: good friends in Miami such as Thecla and Xavier, and always missing my family. But it’s been a long time since I believed I could have everything I loved in a nice, neat bundle that I could carry in my arms from place to place. Life isn’t a perfect formula, it’s a careful balancing act of being there and being ‘there.’
What it boils down to is this summer had the perfect combination of meaningful work, a gorgeous environment, friends I have longed to see since graduation, and roommates that made me feel welcome from the moment I stepped foot into their home. I even had the complete happiness of having my sister visit me for a holiday weekend. The Bay just felt like a place I could carve out a life for myself. It was one of the most permanent feeling places I have ever collided with.
So even though my life cannot be packed up and bundled and taken everywhere with me, I can bundle the joy bestowed upon me during six remarkable and energizing weeks in the Bay. I am so grateful for my College Track team, epic nights of sake bombs, dancing the night away, Uber adventures, amazing craft beers, bowling nights, kicking Pramod’s behind at Mario Kart, the most dedicated scavenger hunt team, trivia nights, Cream ice cream sandwiches, movie nights with my roommates, great food, dinner parties, naps on grassy hills, a million sleepovers, long brunch waits, tranquil transbay bus rides, comedic relief on the Bart and on the streets, liberals, a renewed investment in education reform, 12 hour unexpected reunion with a best friend 2 years overdue, and so much more.
And to TiffJanePoppBitaAseemPramodAlexRichardAlexTracyKimZehnderSeemaStaceyWillaWillTracyMichaelMelodyJuliusLiaSeanJenJessicaMikeMichaelAkashGabby and all friends old and new, my heart bursts with love from you and to you…I’ll be back. To Cameron, Rudy, and Adha, I’ll always be grateful for the warmth you showed me and the laughs we had being your summer roommate. You allowed me to enter your lives and I will miss you terribly.
I have fully embraced the gifts that only summer can bring. And as summer draws its last breaths, and I prepare next week to drive back to Miami, I relish a few more lazy afternoons under the sun and moon and stars of a Town Where Time Does Not Reside.
Odelia Younge 