A Trip Down Memory Lane

I got lost driving up to school the other day. I’m not sure what’s wrong with me, I’ve driven up there so many times it’s not even funny. I used to think I could do it in my sleep. So yeah, I got lost. I was actually on my way from SFO airport and decided to save myself a separate trip and turn in my comp exam a little early since I was already halfway to SF.

Instead of staying on 101 I got off near Moscone Center and decided to just take city streets all the way across town to USF. Traffic sucks in San Francisco! I could feel my blood pressure rising just from dealing with all of the sudden double parking, pedestrians randomly running out into oncoming traffic, and one way streets. It’s amazing how quickly I forgot (or blocked out) how to drive in the city since moving away 17 months ago.

As I was driving to school, all of these familiar places started jumping out at me. I drove down Sansome past my first full time job at ServiceSource. All of our lunch places, happy hour spots, and the walk back home down Broadway with all of the stripper joints. Through the Broadway tunnel I remembered the LOOOONG bus ride home to the Marina, stopping every 5 feet (or so it felt like) to let people on and off. I remember the first day I took the bus to work and how nervous I was, I think I got off about 3 stops before my actual stop. I drove past Nick’s Crispy Tacos (they are so delicious) and the Chinese place where Bryan and I had our third date. It was at that date that I realized I wanted him to be my boyfriend. I remembered all of the mornings of waking up at 6am and throwing on my scrubs, then catching the bus in the dark to Buchanan and walking about 6 blocks uphill to get to the hospital for my clinicals, just as the sun was starting to rise. Driving down Geary I thought of going to Bay to Breakers for the first time and naively thinking I could catch a cab back home, no problem. I ended up waiting out in the rain on Geary for nearly an hour before I got picked up. Then finally getting to my school and remembering all of the long hours studying, the endless hours spent in the skills lab worrying over passing each new skill, and the hundreds of tests and papers I’ve managed to get through in the past two and a half years. Wow, it’s been a crazy few years and so much has happened in my life. I’ve entered, left , and reentered the working world, I’ve met my husband and gotten married, moved four times, gotten a puppy, and managed to keep some of my sanity. Whew, I’m tired now just thinking about it all.