San Francisco: Part One

Well, I had an amazing Memorial Day weekend!

It started for me on Friday when my dad drove my mom and I to the airport bright and early. My eyelids were heavy as I sat in the backseat, watching the road signs race by my sight. I went to bed later than I expected after asking my brother all the details about his proposal. I had no idea he was even planning on it, so I wanted to know if they'd talked about a wedding at all or moving in together. Her parents were very traditional so they would never move in together before getting married. He had been looking at houses, too, so he was hoping to be able to find one and plan the wedding in about a year and a half. I teased him a little bit about her saying no, but he brushed it off. "We've talked about it," he replied a few minutes before he left my room. "So it's not like we're not on the same page."

I was really happy for my brother and he had been with this girl for a couple of years. From what I could tell, they had no serious relationship issues so this was clearly just the next logical step for them. It did make me wonder, though, was an engagement in my future? Would it be with Scott? Or would I meet someone else?

We got through security and everything pretty quick. I grabbed a large black coffee and a few snacks before settling down next to my mom to wait to be called to board.

"I don't think I've been on a plane since I went to France," I said to my mom as I pulled the lid off my coffee and blew on it to cool. The thing I hate about not adding milk to my coffee is that I always burn my tongue!

"How long ago was that?" My mom asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Three years, but it doesn't seem like it was that long ago." I had taken a summer study abroad course in Paris right before I started my senior year of college. It was an amazing experience that I am so glad I went on, but it actually made me wish I had done more adventurous stuff in college, you know?

"Well, you sure are growing up," my mom muttered and widened her eyes at me. I rolled mine in response. Could she have said anything more cliché at that moment?

"Speaking of growing up," I began. "What do you think about this proposal?" My brother mentioned that he told my parents about his intentions of proposing when he bought the ring a couple weeks ago.

"It's exciting," she said but with no real enthusiasm. "But it makes me feel old."

"Yeah, because you are old," I replied and had lean to the side to avoid her swatting me. We talked a little bit more about my brother's soon to be fiancé, Linda, and her family. My mom said she liked her, but I was surprised when she told me that she especially liked how my brother's behavior has changed since they began dating.

"He's a lot more mature and doesn't drink as much," she said as she opened her carry on to look for chapstick.

I hadn't really noticed until she brought it up, but my brother had been acting like a much more responsible adult since he's become serious with this girl. I don't know if it was a coincidence, though. I mean, he's 26, two years older than me. He had to mature sometime, right?

Our plane boarded a few minutes later and I was very content to just lean my head back, attempting to at least rest my mind even if I didn't fall asleep. I don't get nervous on planes or anything, but I'm not good at sleeping in a chair, no matter how much I lean it back or adjust my body. Even though I didn't fall asleep on the flight, I definitely felt energized when we landed.

My mom and I figured we'd head in the general direction of the hotel, even though we wouldn't be able to check in for a couple of hours. My mom had all this stuff that she printed out at work about cool spots to hit in San Francisco and she had so many cool things that I didn't even think of doing or even know about! She's the real MVP.

So we got brunch at this cute place by our hotel before checking out where my conference was. I had looked through the booklet and didn't see many events or talks that I wanted to or needed to attend, but there was one interesting talk the following morning right before I was set to present. I told my mom I'd be back around noon and then we could have the rest of Saturday to explore!

We checked out Pier 39 that first day but didn't stay too long since we had a boat tour in the area planned on Sunday before we were scheduled to head to the airport late that night. We also drove over to the golden gate bridge and walked around by that area, which was pretty touristy as you can imagine. California is just so beautiful, though. No wonder people from there are always so happy! It's always sunny and the perfect temperature.

We decided to hang out in that area for a while because it was about 7 o'clock. It was too late to go somewhere else, but not really early enough to head back. Also, we were trying to avoid jet lag, so we refused to be back at the hotel before 9 so we'd have to stay up at least that late.

When my head hit the pillow at 9:27, though, I was out. The next thing I remember is waking up to my alarm at 7 Saturday morning.