It starts with a muffin.
A blueberry muffin; lopsided, unevenly topped with a layer of golden-yellow sugar and bursting with berries. It was adamantly unique, a non-Starbucks, non-assembly-line specimen. It also didn’t have any calorie information – approximate or exact – attached. And I ate in in spite of that.
It has taken me a very long time to get to this point.
Afterwards I walked for almost eight hours, first photographing and then meandering through ‘up’town and downtown San Francisco, discovering places, sightlines and interesting spots along the way. I am slowly following the same pattern I had in Toronto – first establishing a base I feel comfortable in and then exploring outwards in larger circles.
I enjoyed all the time I spent in the city today. Every activity no matter how small, was experienced. I don’t know of another way to put it.
Walking back to the car at night I felt an emotion, a sensation that I haven’t experienced in a very long time. Peace. There was no euphoric high from which I could be dashed, no unreasonable lightness of mood. Just comfort. Complete fulfillment. I would give almost anything to experience that feeling again.
And for that alone, today was worth it.