Metaphors and Other Nonsense

Last Saturday I made plans to meet Nick’s ex-girlfriend Meg, who was visiting from New York, in Sausalito. I almost begged off because I was too broke to go to lunch but she said she was happy just walking around Sausalito and that sounded great to me too.

I had facebooked Meg an article about the Sausalito Stairs and asked if that looked like a good walk to her. I instantly started writing this blog in my head using the stairs as a metaphor for life... for about 3 minutes before my knees started to hurt. I thought it must be psychosomatic.

Meg was staying in the city with Galina, who is Nick’s ex-wife. They became good friends while Nick was still seeing Meg, and continued their friendship beyond the split. Nick likes intelligent women and these two ladies are that and more; their friendship was a natural. I love them both.

I felt guilty going for any kind of a walk without Toshi on a Saturday so I leashed him up and brought him with me.

Both girls met me near the ferry landing, both girls were happy to see Toshi and of course, he was happy to see them too.

When I mentioned to Meg and Galina my knees hurt and I didn’t think I could do the stairs they were more than forgiving. They were running in the Bay to Breakers on Sunday and didn’t need the added knee strain either.

So we started walking through the throngs of people on Bridgeway. Galina was holding Toshi and my eyes were peeled for any other animals since Toshi isn’t always a sweetheart with his own kind. But as we skirted our way through tourists and sun worshipers Toshi seemed fine, in fact he was happy as hell.

 

Near the seal statue on the waterside of Bridgeway, we came upon a bride and groom having their pictures taken. The bride was a pretty, Asian girl in a long white gown and held her pale pink bouquet in her hand.

Toshi stopped to admire the beautiful bride and she gently and cautiously put her hand out to touch him.  Their camera crew started snapping pictures and suddenly Toshi was smiling, posing and trying to outshine the lovely bride. Her new husband had already taken a back seat.

We stayed long enough for Toshi to get his picture taken and continued down the street. Taking in the sights like the rest of the tourists and letting Toshi sniff here and there. As we came back towards the bride and groom their camera crew was packing up. Toshi decided once again to don their wedding party with his presence and very sweetly laid down near the bride and smiled his best ever Shiba Inu grin. The bride lowered herself to Toshi’s level and ever so gently pet his furry head. The photographers rushed to get their gear unpacked and held light reflectors next to Toshi while clicking their shutters. Fifteen years from now when the bride and groom’s kids are looking through their wedding album they will ask, ‘We had a dog?” and the mom and dad will reply, “No we had a wedding crasher.”

 

It crossed my mind for a second that this simple walk was the real metaphor for life. Seize the moment! Be spontaneous. Smile for pictures. Enjoy a nice walk. Keep good company. Be happy for newlyweds. Walk your dog. Smell everything. (Well, almost everything.) Enjoy every minute possible.

I was so full of myself when I was thinking that stairs were the metaphor for life because they are hard and they leave you out of breath, and maybe if they don’t kill you getting to the top might make you feel good about the accomplishment, but everything will hurt and it won’t really be fun. Stairs as a metaphor was almost depressing.

 It’s amazing what some fresh air on a sunny day in Sausalito will do for your outlook on life.

Still, I would like to do the stair walk someday. Not because of the difficulty factor but because the views from up high are breathtakingly beautiful.

 

Thanks for a great day girls!! And Toshi too!