We drove through the grey chill of Boston, 5:00 AM from our friend Caroline’s apartment in Cambridge to the airport. Hours later we walked out of the Bakersfield airport into a brilliantly sunny day, temperature in the 80s and heading up.

After our meeting in Bakersfied, we drove to Van Nuys, listening to Joni Mitchell’s albumn “Blue”. This album is nearer to perfection than any I can think of. It was the soundtrack of my first year living in Geneva when I was 23. The first song, “All I Want,” inspired our wedding vows with the line “All I really really want our love to do is to bring out the best in me and in you.” Fortunately Dave likes it too. I once stopped dating a boy because he didn’t.

When we got to the hotel I crashed completely and Dave put in a few hours of work. I don’t know what came over me, but it was nothing 12 hours of sleep couldn’t cure.