I left my heart

As I'm writing this, I'm sitting in the First Class Lounge (thanks, United Mileage Plus!) at San Francisco International, waiting for the 7:21pm flight to London, and then back to Barcelona. From here, I can look out and see the sun setting on the same hills that I first saw back in the summer of 1991, when I was a wide-eyed kid from Ohio just realizing how big the world actually was. I think that everyone, if they're lucky, finds a place that they connect with, instantly and on a deep level, and that they carry with them in some sense no matter where they go. I had that feeling not five miles from here almost 17 years ago, and I think that this will always be one of my favorite places on earth.

The main reason for coming here last week was to officially celebrate my 40th birthday, which means that I've now postponed that milestone as long as I can. I was lucky enough to have friends from different periods of the last ten-plus years all together in one place, and while there are people that I wish could have been there but weren't, it means a lot to me to have friends who have stuck with me over the ups and downs of the past decade or two. Thanks, guys...and let's do it again in 2018.