September, if You Please

Can we call, "TIMEOUT" on life for a minute? We need a water break and a quick huddle.  You know, to figure out what's what and what's good.

According to the world...It's September, but summer is still lingering on the brain. We're still dreaming of indian summer picnics and ice cold everything. It's September, and the world says it's now unacceptable to wear white for the next nine months.

We're going to call bull$*#! because that's our prerogative. It's September, and the back-to-school aisle both beckons and inspires a desire to run in the opposite direction. A complicated beast, indeed.

It's September, and this one is a bit different from last. You too? We're the kids raising both hands in the air right now.

This September feels like the crossroads between big kid and adult. Think caterpillar to butterfly, except with less of nature's beauty and more of nature's hot mess.

I've traded number two pencils for pencil skirts and night owl studying for early bird commutes. And I'm oddly okay with it. I've traded assembling farmers' markets for Ikea furniture. And "group project meeting" is a bit of an understatement at this point.

We'll call all this my the attempt to find some semblance of adulthood. Until then, fake it 'till you make it will have to do.

So then, what has post-grad life been like really? It's been rad!!! Seriously. No homework? Yes please. It's been weird. Is this real life, or is this just fantasy? It's been expensive. "The rent is too damn high!"

It's been a lot, of a lot. Which is how I tend to describe most things these days.

Truth be told, I have far more to say than what's been said. The thing is, I haven't figured out how to say it. I'm reconciling what it means to be all grown up, when janky has been the M.O. of times past. When it, frankly, still is.

I think this general weirdness is welcome, if not altogether obligatory.

So here we are now: September, if you please. I can tell you that I'm in a good place & headspace with nothing but great company. That we can live now and figure out the words to explain what's complicated later.

And that if all else fails, we'll call timeout and exercise our prerogative to call bull$*#!.

So This is Summer & "The Future"

I'm definitely maybe head over heels for August.

Seriously, I'm over here square dancing with the dog days of summer, while the rest of the folks in the US are egging on their air conditioner with chants of "DOWN WITH THE HUMIDITY."

Or so I'm told.

We can agree to disagree on the AC.

But I'm sure we can all agree on the wonders of summer's finale...starring shorts, watermelon slices, barbecues (which we all know is really spelled bbq), beach trips, iced coffee with too much cream, iced tea with too much goodness (...not), lazy evenings, open windows, red sangria, iiiiiiiceeeee creeeeeammmmm, warm nights, bonfires, and sunshine every which way.

Plus, just hanging out! Hanging out, tuning in, and taking five like we do so well.

See, this is why we're friends.

Speaking of which, hey friends! Let's hang.

I'm staring at that funny little in-between square in the face again. But this time it feels welcome, maybe even cordial.

It's been less than one week since I left San Francisco & Google, and it's less than one week until I start my senior year at Georgetown.

Whoa there - it's a LIFE SANDWICH! With a whole lot of good stuff smushed in between two major contenders.

Suddenly, everybody seems to want to know about those two major contenders.

Every conversation is peppered with questions about what happened and what's going to happen. About living in San Francisco, about Google, about senior year, and about "the future" beyond.

Pause: "The future" should be in obligatory air quotes at all times.

You feel me? I'm talking 'bout those quotes where you unceremoniously wiggle your fingers mid-air to demonstrate just how ludicrous something is. Totally that kind!

Long story short: life is good. Google was a different kind of great; home is what the doctor ordered; and my final year at Georgetown, I imagine, will be nothing short of swell.

Summer in the Bay and a second internship at Google surprised me. Sure, there were still all the crazy Security shenanigans, Google Glass demos, five star food, coffee had, etc.

But if you were hanging 'round these parts for this post, you know that this summer was a marked changed from last. It was a gamechanger plus two...but in a completely new way. Ya dig?

I lived in the Mission district on Dolores Park with two amazing roommates, A and N. I hustled erryday with A, trekked to Sonoma wine country with N, dinner'd with L, enjoyed burritos with M.

I ventured to the Golden Gate Bridge, hiked Lands End, brunched with unapologetic enthusiasm, survived Outside Lands with P,  and just started figuring it out. San Francisco is wonky, but then again, so are we.

I settled into a groove with home, work, and people, straddling the permanence of routine and the transience of summer. Does that mean we're 'big kids' now? I'm into it.

Roomie and resident baller, A, aptly coined the phrase "learning to adult"© to represent this bizarre midline between straight up kiddo and grown up. It's an education in its own right. And a sincere reminder that good friends are really the cure-all. Even and especially when your tenacity is down for the count.

Meanwhile, home has been about the simple things. Friends who've been there since the diaper days, and family who can accept that a pound of blueberries is not safe around me.

Read between the lines: I've assumed a nonstop faceplant on the beach and belly flop position in the waves. I'm grappling to remember the last time I wore real-people-clothes (not bathing suits or pajamas). And the couch and I are a little too friendly. Hubba hubba.

That's the TL;DR version. I hope you're doing your thang and doing it well. That you're learning to adult (aren't we all?) and learning it well. That you, like me, are not trading these last few sips of summer for too much of "the future."

Because we got this. And let's not forget: It's all in "air quotes" anyway.

love & other hugs, L