we fell in love with san francisco together

my first sunday at church in san francisco, i was introduced to another new girl named kelsey. i remember telling her that i liked her hair. something told me we were going to be good friends. honestly, since the moment we met.

the next week, in my new place wanderlusty and also nearly friendless state, i was looking for someone to have an adventure with. i asked kelsey if she wanted to go to santa cruz with me just to explore. she agreed without any hesitation. and i knew my initial suspicion about our friend compatibility was correct. on that day trip down the coast, we quickly got into deep conversations and realized we were actually fantastic adventure buddies.

we fell in love with san francisco together, and over the past four years we’ve done all kinds of spectacular exploring around the bay area and beyond. we’ve discovered different neighborhoods and random nicks and crannies of the city, road tripped along highway one as far north as seattle and as far south as los angeles, ran a half marathon together in santa barbara, enjoyed many of the best eats and treats of san francisco (and believe us, that’s a lot of delicious food) and realized we are excellent food sharing companions, rode bikes in sonoma and explored napa, camped and had transcendently beautiful experiences together with nature in big sur and yosemite and mendocino, threw bonfire night parties together every november fifth, went to all kinds of parades and weird san francisco events, cried and laughed together in way too many crazy hard and crazy awesome moments to list, and grew into a dynamic and oh so very cherished friendship that will last forever. this single bay area chapter of my life is so vividly colored by this vibrant, incredible girl, and i am so grateful that we’ve been in this place together.

here’s the first picture of kelsey and i together on this blog – back in 2010 when we drove from san francisco to seattle together – along the oregon coast:
and today she drove back to seattle without me, this time to stay. i can’t even begin to express how much i will miss her, and the magnitude of that feeling is pretty blown away still by how grateful i am for her friendship these years by the bay.

on tuesday night kelsey and i met at grace cathedral on top of nob hill in the city for one last round of yoga on the labyrinth together. going to this free class with live music and hundreds of other participants among the coolness of the stone and the colors of the stained glass is one of our favourite things to do together in the city. it felt so good to unwind under the amazing cathedral ribbons (a recent art installation), doing downward dog and the like to the soundtrack of the singing bowls and the didgeridoo.

after yoga, we went to dinner in the mission and then i dropped kelsey off at her house in the castro one last time. so many pick ups and drop offs and sleepovers and conversations and memories there….it feels like the end of an era. i am so grateful for this girl who defined my life in this place so much. what a blessing to have a friend like her.