This morning I took a drive “over the hill,” which refers to driving Highway 17 over the Santa Cruz mountains. I’ve made that drive hundreds of times since 1984, and this time it was to visit my rockin’ hairstylist and have lunch with a new friend.

It was overcast. Just before the summit I saw a fogbank and when I got to the top, there sat a CHP cruiser, yellow lights flashing, and just down the hill a bit, another, probably making sure we were safe on that gnarly road.

Everything was so green and beautiful, so familiar and so resonant with memories of all the other times I’ve been on that road, coming or going. As I reached the bottom of the hill, Paul Simon’s Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes came on the radio. It made me smile.

Just a few weeks ago, we were knee deep in packing boxes and it seemed like we’d never be packed. Now, here a week, we’re moved and again, knee deep in boxes and it seems like we’ll never be unpacked.

But as today’s ride in the mountains reminded me, the important thing is we’re HERE, in the place that feeds my soul.

And able to sit for three hours and have lunch with a really interesting and fun new friend, of whom I know I’ll see a lot more.

We’re HERE!! And for that, I’m grateful.