Wow, SF was amazing. It was also very surreal. So many things have changed in my life since I was last strolling those sunny hills that it was tough to reconcile my inner thoughts with the outer world. The events that transpired over the course of the weekend occurred multiple times while I lived there but this time there was some extra depth and oomph.

Went to happy hour at Lucky 13 which absolutely drove home the point that it is by far the best and my favorite bar in that city, or any other city. Bartender remembered my drink, my name and gave me the first one on the house. Popcorn on the patio with friends I haven't seen in months and then onward into the night just like old times. Wine country the next day, then incredible sushi Friday night, a Saturday Oysterfest in the park and then a full-on house party (and Man Shower) Saturday night left me dazed and confused on Sunday morning, so I did the only sane thing I could. I strolled the Haight Street Fair, had espressos in the Sunset and then met up with my wife and friends for the best damn Thai food away from the Andaman Ocean.

I've done all of that before. It's probably even happened all on the same weekend at one point or another. But this time I really tried to soak it up. The reason all that has happened a bunch of times before is because it is all so much damn fun.

Our fun is different now, here in New Haven. It is more personal and intimate. As much as I enjoyed every second of SF, a part of me was still looking forward to getting back into the shop to roast and sell coffee, to see my brothers and family, to chill in our backyard on a hot summer eve. Clearly New Haven is a pale, slow and stately little town compared to the carnival that is every second of the day or night in SF. But our home is not just New Haven. It is all the tendrils of life and love and work that spread out from this apartment on Willow Street.

We move a little slower here day to day, but we also travel far to see friends or family, and work a lot harder all the time because our future is no longer just out there somewhere slowly rolling up on us. Our future is here, now. The rest of our lives are only a few months away. This is the perfect place for us to be at this moment. But the best part is that one of those tendrils snakes all the way across the country to our first home together and it wraps around an amazing group of friends we are so lucky to have, and it ties us to them and to the city and to a whole way of life and living that we can never leave behind.

San Francisco is inside of us. We were changed by the light of that coast, the scent of fog, the cold summer night winds, the blazing days, sublime wines and amazing friends. We both learned so much there, and it is exciting to know what is coming next. Life will still be a carnival, at least within these walls, that is for sure. Thanks SF for showing us how it's done!