Walking along Divisadero on a sunny Saturday morning, I decided to give my mom a ring as it had been ages since we last caught up. Since I’m obsessed with time efficiency, I decided to multi-task, with the first errand being grocery shopping. Yes, I was that annoying person at the check out who is having a conversation while making a transaction, although I did ask my mom to hold while I talked to the cashier and explained I was talking to my mother. (side note: verbosity runs in the family and it took a while until I could interrupt my mother’s story and tell her I needed to check out). The cashier empathized with me, giving me the nod and slight eye roll of, ‘Oh mothers,’ then saying that her mother talks her ear off too.
A trip to Falletti’s Market was not nearly long enough to encompass the conversation. So I decided to take a seat outside of Mojo Cafe and continue telling my mother about my ridiculous adventures in San Francisco, many of which resemble content for sitcoms. I could tell that two guys sitting at an adjacent table were eavesdropping, but I didn’t mind– these were pretty entertaining stories and I was happy to give anyone a laugh.
After an hour passed I realized that the end of our conversation was nowhere in sight, so I decided to brave it again and order something while continuing to chat, though this time I gave my mom a heads up and it was a smooth hold–order–pay–resume conversation transaction.
Once I got my coffee, I went back outside and took a seat again, but this time at a small table right outside of the cafe entrance and directly across from the two guys who were previously listening to my conversation. Hidden by my long hair, the guys couldn’t see that I was still on the phone, so one called out to me, “Hey! No need to sit alone. Come join us!” He then pulled out a conveniently accessible third chair from a neighboring table and waved for me to come over.
I laughed and told him I was on the phone with my mom.
His response: “Oh, I LOVE my mom too!”
He then gave my mom a loud shout out–“Hi mom!”– and also waved, as though she could see him through the phone. This greeting caused many heads to turn.
My mom later asked who I was talking to, as the exchange sounded like I had bumped into a good friend, and I said, “Oh just some random people I met on the street.” I love this city.
This city makes me smile every day.
P.S. And if I weren’t on the phone with my mom, then I totally would have joined them.
Courtney Illustrates 