Fr. Don's Daily Reflection - August 22, 2024
Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from you.”
San Francisco, July 2018
(More notes on time in San Francisco one summer. I should be clear: the writer is not wearing a Roman collar in what follows. What follows is almost a bit of nostalgia.)
On July 4 Caffe Greco quickly becomes very crowded, including “us” regulars but with many tourists. The most regular is a man in his 70’s wearing a beret and a light linen or seersucker suit. Warming up after several years he now greets me with a smile. I know nothing about him except that I’ve seen him read The Sacred Science of Ancient Japan and tote a Latin dictionary. -- My driver back is Axi, born in Taiwan. Though I compliment him on his English, he says his children make fun of his accent. He is in very good spirits which prompts me to tell him my ‘mantra’: "The first 90 years are the most difficult." He repeats that with great relish! -- While alumnus and friend Mike is here we have a very personable driver from Eritrea named Fin. Before coming here he had lived in Saudi Arabia. Conditions in Eritrea drive many to emigrate. A cross hangs from the rear view mirror and I ask, “Christian?” He, “Yes, Orthodox.” -- Driver Gag (his whole name would take most of this line) is from Mongolia.
At Mass this morning there is a Filipino family visiting from where they live in Nigeria. My RH driver is from Mongolia and goes by Seg, the short form. He and his wife, also from Mongolia, have three children. To get this sort of information I often break the ice with something like: “Married? Six kids?” The answer is always emphatic! “Six kids? You can hardly afford one in San Francisco!” -- Driver Mih, in his 30s, is from Ethiopia though his lively and informal mannerisms are very American. -- Benny, a driver of Chinese origin, seems incommunicative until I find out that he is nearly deaf. At the house he very carefully backs the car in and is very helpful getting me to the porch from that sloping sidewalk. -- A good friend Paul from the San Diego area, after hearing on the phone of some bad moments of mine one day, says: “If you’re going to have a bad day at least you’re better off having it in San Francisco.”
Luo, a very lively and friendly driver from Vietnam, had been drafted into the army there during the war, and came to the US after that. His wife is from Taiwan and he speaks Vietnamese, Chinese and English. -- One evening the driver overshoots the address by half a block and, lamely with the walker, I try to flag him down. As happens any number of times, a pedestrian, in this case a young woman, seeing the predicament runs ahead and alerts the driver to me. -- Another time I find myself, as usual, in the front seat with a driver Eme in this country only a month from Brazil. His affability and smile accompany a request: “I know very little English. Do you speak another language?” Knowing that Spanish and Portuguese are close I help him navigate with my Spanish to his relief.
Walking in the blustery late afternoon wind and 60’s temperature I pass a young woman (obviously a visitor) on her cell phone saying to someone: “What kind of July is this?” A nearby kiosk has this message: “Find someone to share this winter of a July with.” (The writer loves these July days when the average afternoon temperature is around 65 degrees.) -- Since Adam, a colleague from Minnesota is visiting San Francisco, I take this opportunity to ride a cable car once more. He takes the folded walker inside, and I stand on the runner holding on to a pole. Almost immediately the man seated right in front of me says: “Father Don?” Sure enough, with only around 700 of our alumni in the whole state of California, I accidentally encounter Mike, an ’88 graduate, now a superintendent of schools in Albert Lea, MN. With his wife he is vacationing in the beautiful city!
Psalm 27: “I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness / in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord; be strong; / be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord!”
