Hi friends! Today, I just arrived in San Francisco. I wanted to share that I will be staying at my mom’s house for the next two weeks. She’s in Hawaii while I stay at her house in San Francisco.
Growing up in Oakland, I often frequented the city a lot as a kid. My uncle, who partially raised me, used to have a restaurant out here. I spent lots of nights in and around Golden Gate Park and the surrounding areas. I just wanted to share my time here with you in case you’re interested in a light read.
Fast forward a few days later. I didn’t have time to finish this blog. I had plans for a late birthday dinner with friends in the city. We had a little celebration dinner at a Chinese restaurant called 606.
I picked this restaurant for a few reasons. One, it’s super close to my mom’s house, so walking distance. Two, they were able to accommodate a party of nine on short notice. I postponed my birthday dinner since it was raining a lot (flooding in some areas in the Bay Area) on my birthday weekend. And third, it was affordable since I knew my friends would be splitting the bill. Some were no longer working due to layoffs, etc.
After, we headed towards some bars around Broadway. The bars were full of younger people. However, that didn’t stop me since I just wanted to celebrate my 47th anyway. A few friends were a bit annoying. They didn’t enter some establishments because they were too crowded for their liking. Oh well, that situation with those friends is for another blog post. I don’t want to get into it here. I want to remember the night with the people who truly celebrated with me.
After, it came down to just me and one friend. The night ended so lovely. My friend was so down to hike up a hill during our drunken stupor. We lay down on top of the hill (in the middle of the street) to stargaze. When we had to get up twice due to two cars passing by, we decided to hike up to Coit Tower, which was a brilliant idea.
At Coit Tower, we were able to stretch out on two platforms. Finally, we watched the stars in peace. The only drawback was the light pollution. Thankfully, that didn’t stop us.
My friend said watching the stars was a nice reminder for him to pause in life. For me, I was super happy to share something I try to do often but can’t. As a woman, safety has to be my priority, and sometimes this limits my access to a lot, especially at night.
However, having someone around, especially a man, made me feel safer. I was able to be a little more spontaneous at night, like lying down on an SF street at 2 am. Given that it was on top of a hill and in a quiet, nice residential area.
We were stargazing at Coit Tower until 3 in the morning. Besides us, there were a couple of rowdy teenagers there, too. But they didn’t stay too long, and where we lay down, we were hidden, which was also so nice.
I like doing things that are considered off the beaten path. Even at my ripe old age of 47. But that’s what I think keeps me youthful, which people tend to tell me that I am a lot. Not young, or immature, but youthful. People may look at me as if it’s odd. That’s fine, they’re not living my life. The only issue is that I wish I could do more late nights on my own. But again, I have to think about my safety first.
That night, I shared with my friend how I took my kids camping. We went camping during COVID. Due to COVID, we essentially had the whole campground to ourselves. I remember my kids were inside the tent playing card games. I went outside and lay on top of a hill (another street, but closed) to smoke my joint and stargaze. Lying there, about 100 feet away, I heard my kids laughing uncontrollably from their game. As I exhaled and squinted at the stars, I remember feeling so grateful for my life.
Another moment of a great stargazing experience was when I went hiking with my boyfriend at the time in Moab, Utah. We started our hike a little late, which was nice because we got to see the sunset. I remember asking him if we could take it slow getting back to the car. Because it’s not often I get to hike at night.
When we were almost back to the beginning of the trailhead, I asked if we could stargaze. Thankfully, he agreed, and we found a boulder big enough for both of us to lie on. It was so nice because, to my surprise, he was very well-versed in astronomy. And there was absolutely no light pollution since everyone had already left.
He tried teaching me about celestial bodies, galaxies, and the black hole. The black hole is where he lost me. Not because I wasn’t interested, but because I couldn’t understand the concept of how big it is.
Another favorite stargazing experience is when I’m camping. When my family and I are camping, we’re so disconnected from the world. There’s usually no light pollution, and we can fully enjoy the night together. This is when I usually will see a lot of shooting stars, too.
When my family is in Hawaii, they like to stargaze too in the backyard. Me not so much since I prefer the couch over the backyard steps and mosquitoes.
Oh, before I forget, here’s another stargazing experience I had. One time, I had a pretty traumatic incident happen to me and felt super sad and overwhelmed. I couldn’t go inside the house because I didn’t want my kids to see me crying. So I asked my boyfriend at the time if we could go to the neighborhood park. We did, and he pulled out a blanket for us to lie on and look at the stars. It was the peace I needed in such a hectic moment.
I don’t really have a point to this blog. I guess it could be that when you get the chance, stop, pause, and breathe. If you feel overwhelmed, stressed, or all of the above, try to go somewhere where you can lie down and have a stargazing experience. Whether that’s in your backyard or a friend’s, try to pause and look up at the stars. Make it a stargazing experience.
It’s funny because when I’m feeling super high from eating too many edibles, I’ll lie in my backyard. This is usually in the daytime since getting stoned makes me super energetic and unable sleep. You can find me lying on the bare grass, looking up at the sky to calm myself down. I guess you can say there really is something to lying down on Mother Nature. Allowing her to comfort you and help release your stress.
Update: It’s been three days since this post. Last night, I went out with a couple of friends in San Francisco. It was such a fun night because I got to go on the roof of their friend’s apartment, lie down, and just stargaze. I was somewhere in the Castro and got a beautiful 360-degree view of the city. It was beautiful.
Every chance you get, definitely try to make it a stargazing experience.
Thanks for reading!
Love, Sutivi
