Peace, Walk, Now: Chapter 1, Part-Time Disruptor

June 2017 - San Diego, California

The Jacaranda trees were in full bloom.

It was an exhilaratingly sunny day in San Diego, and I was not-so-casually waiting at a Starbucks to see my ex-boyfriend, Jack. We broke up 16 years prior, and I hadn’t seen him since.

Well, that’s not entirely true. I saw him that one time I drove down to San Diego for the weekend with a different boyfriend a few years after we broke up. I spotted Jack at Swami’s Cafe in Encinitas with his new girlfriend. As soon as I saw him come in, I raised my hand to cover my face and hurriedly turned around, whispering to my then boyfriend, Jeff, that we needed to leave ASAP and not to ask me why. Jeff followed me and didn’t seem to mind. He didn’t care where we had breakfast. Denny’s or McDonald’s were just as good for him. Well, this was before he sold his condo in Long Beach and we moved to West Hollywood together. Either way, Jeff wasn’t the type to make a scene in public. He was a Cancer.

Jack, on the other hand, was an Aries.

Jack would have come straight to us and started embarrassing me with his 20-years my senior vibe. That’s only partly why I was embarrassed. Back then I didn’t have the confidence to back myself up on my life decisions. And I didn’t feel like explaining to Jeff (who was close to my age) how I met Jack (who was closer to our parents’ age) or why I chose to date him. My Cancer boyfriend didn’t know the me that Jack knew.

By the time I started living in West Hollywood, I had already become a replica of myself. Jack knew the original version—the version that was determined to make the world a better place somehow. The version that had not given up on beautiful ideals and hopeful visions of expanded social consciousness. The version Jack knew wasn’t concerned about what’s in style, which restaurants have the best ratings, or what type of car to drive. She didn’t want to drive. Jack knew the version of me that liked to walk.

Jack and I met through a “Save the Whales” campaign at UC San Diego. The event supported the protection of migration patterns for Alaska Grey Whales, and Jack’s nonprofit was one of the sponsors. I was one of the volunteers. We were both cause driven and I liked that Jack was adventure-loving, charismatic, and poured a lot of attention on me. (I’m a Sagittarius. LOL)

But the 20-years my senior vibe was a thing.

For example, while Jack and I were dating during my senior year at UCSD, I remember studying at a coffee shop on campus.

(Read the Intro to Peace, Walk, Now here.)