4 Wheels 4 Girls

On Wednesday, May 18, after a night spent parked along the street near the laundromat in Berkeley, we headed back to the San Francisco airport so Van could catch his flight to Atlanta. After dropping Van off, the girls and I headed west toward Brentwood and the home of my dear friend Mary.

I met Mary in 1986, the summer my friend Tricia and I spent riding our bikes across the country with Bike-Aid, an organization formed to raise awareness and funds for small scale development projects. Though we road the Seattle to DC route and Mary road on the route that began in San Franciso these 2 routes met up with the 3 other Bike-Aid routes in DC and we all road together from there to New York. It was there that I first met Mary. The following spring/summer, Tricia and I packed up our bikes and headed out to Palo Alto, the home of Bike-Aid, to help with preparations for the 1987 ride. While there, we worked nights at the Standord University Hospital, slept on Mary’s hideaway couch during the day, and volunteered with Bike Aid in the afternoon/evening. We were there for a few months but it was a really wonderful time. It was great to hang out in “Mary’s world”. In 1990 Mary came to Minneapolis and had her first experience of a Minnesota winter. It appears as though one winter was enough. Mary returned to CA after 6 months and that was the last that I saw her. 🙂

When I saw Mary, she looked exactly as expected, beautiful, feisty, and as welcoming as she was 25 years ago. And it was great to meet her wonderful 15 year-old daughter Olivia. Mary and Olivia invited us to make ourselves at home so we did, for 3 days. It was really nice. The girls loved being in their comfortable home, playing with all the gadgets that they found in the garage, and bonding with the neighbors cat (excluding Greta who is allergic). And I loved catching up with all that has happened in Mary’s life since I last saw her and to fill her in on what’s happened in mine. We were all sad to have to leave “Mary’s world” on Saturday morning but we were excited to have Van back with us so, once again, we head to the airport in San Francisco. I left grateful that the girls had a chance to meet Mary and Olivia and for them to know that they have friends like them that they may not see again for a long time but will surely see again.