SURREAL LIFE
Living in San Francisco, I’m used to being on the leading edge of change. That’s one of the things I love most about my adopted hometown. Gay marriage. Electric cars. Artisanal toast. What starts out here as unthinkable or laughable or radical eventually becomes acceptable or trendy or even mainstream in due course.
But I was caught off-guard when, almost two weeks ago, San Francisco and neighboring counties ordered nearly 7 million residents to shelter in place. Meaning, don’t go to the office. Or the gym. Or any restaurants or bars. For a city that revels in its foodie culture, that last one really hurt.
Friends and family from across the country called or texted to check in on me.
Are you OK? (Yes, absolutely.)
Is it a ghost town? (I’m not sure because I hardly ever leave the house, but the couple of times I went shopping at the market or for a walk in Golden Gate Park, there seemed to be a lot of people — most trying to keep their 6 feet of social distance.)
Will you get arrested if you go outside? (No, although SF Police announced today that might change.)
As with artisanal toast, San Francisco proved to be a harbinger of things to come. According to today’s New York Times, at least 229 million people in at least 26 states, 66 counties, 14 cities and one territory have been urged to stay at home. My friends and family no longer check on me like I’m some exotic specimen because now they’re living la vida loca themselves.
Against this backdrop, it’s hard to feel excited about my book that’s still more than three months from publication. Who knows what the world will look like by July 14? Will the shelter-in-place restrictions be lifted? Even if they are, will people feel like going out in public, convening in stores, attending book readings? Or will everything have changed irrevocably?
This week, I received a note from my editor that gave me a spark of hope. The HarperCollins audio producer wanted my input on potential narrators for the audiobook. My audiobook. I clicked the link and saw headshots and bios for over a dozen actresses, all beautiful and talented and with extensive lists of film, television, and audiobook titles to their credit. I was blown away.
This morning, I sat in front of my computer and listened to each actress reading my words aloud — an experience I can only describe as surreal. Life has been feeling surreal these past two weeks. But this morning, it felt surreal in a good way.
P.S. That photo? Completely staged. I was wearing my bathrobe and glasses this morning. Of course!