Happy Dance for Georgia O'Keeffe

I am at de Young Museum right now. I haven't looked at the art yet, except this building itself is a work of art. I just purchased my magnets -I have to do that everywhere I go, it's my favorite travel cliche- and a notebook from the "Artistic San Francisco" series. My museum shopping spree is followed by a hunger strike and so here I am, sitting at the museum cafe trying to feed my stomach with food and my soul with a very refreshing and liberating glass of Sauvignon Blanc on this lovely San Francisco afternoon, two glasses in fact. As soon as my soul is fed, I will go exploring. 

Today I am hoping to meet Georgia O'Keeffe up close and personal for the first time. I'm frenetic. First time I've ever heard of her name was when the heroin addict tattoo artist girl mentioned it to her lover on Breaking Bad. I might have heard of it before but this must have been the first time the name hit the right corner in my brain that I never really forgot after that. I made a little mental note somewhere in there and now universe brought her right in front of me. I become a very happy person when such coincidences occur. It might even be the only time I become truly happy, like deep inside happy, and reach my husband's usual level of cheerfulness. He is happy and cheerful at heart and at all times. I, on the other hand need my small miracles in life to stay focused on Zen-level happiness like that. Today is my miracle day. 

I had actually made up my mind the night before. I was trying to make a decision between going to the de Young Museum or vintage shopping. A decision made easy once I thought "Stop breathing in and out Vintage Shopping and start using some of that oxygen in the air." I am addicted to shopping anything vintage because it's always an adventure in itself and I feel like I own a part of world history. Problem is I like art more. So I found myself at the museum, which opens at 9.30am. 

I planned to wake up with my husband at 7am; have breakfast with him and send him off to work like a good housewife, just so I can take an early trip to modern art museum, breaking all rules of being a housewife like a bad anarchist. After the museum, I was going to skip vintage shopping; come back to the hotel, grab my in-cabin luggage -thanks Delta for pushing me to travel light- and hit the road to come back home to New York. I was so smart, I had it all figured out. Only problem was I was dumb enough to forget yet again that life is a schizophrenic monster who only does whatever the heck it pleases while you make plans. Life cancelled my flight. 

With a new flight scheduled for the next day and really strong vocal cords, I did only what any sane woman with plans for the day would do, I did my own version of happy dance on the bed, which involved some jumping up and down and obviously screaming songs of joy at the top of my lungs. Sorry next door neighbors and front desk staff, whom might have gotten angry calls from my next door neighbors about my screaming. I don't know. I had one full day for fun all to myself and absolutely no time to waste; I left.

I walked to the museum, which took me two hours. During these two hours, I sent 129 photos and a few videos to a very old and good friend in Ankara all the while walking as if she was walking right next to me. A normal person would probably be very bored at first and furious by the end, probably would have turned their phone off too. Luckly, she is not a normal person; she's my friend. Once we arrived at de Young together, she dropped me off and went back home. 

As I'm sipping my last drop of wine, I think I have satisfied my soul's hunger. Well, until dinner that is...The museum cafe is crowded and San Francisco is flawless. Georgia O'Keeffe? She must be all eyes and ears, waiting for me, wondering which painting I will start my tour at. Museum curator probably thinks her layout makes all the sense in the world and that all visitors must follow her sequence if they want to make this a fun experience. Me? I avoid systematic approach to art at all costs. Walking up and down aimlessly from one corner of a museum to the next is my approach. I like surprises, not rules; not when it comes to art.

Right now, I am in a rule-free zone, where I have become one with my own thoughts in my head, hearing the voices of the crowd like background noise from afar. Moments of perfect solitude within a crowd. Or maybe just two glasses of wine, who knows... I do want to get up and start exploring one corridor after another, walls full of timeless human soul but I have a problem. I am too obsessed with documenting  and sharing present moments with loved ones that my phone reaches the danger zone of 1% battery before noon. I must find a way to recharge because though I enjoy moments alone, I am not a lonely woman. I have people who care about me and who wonder what I do. I have a partner in crime, who will commit life with me until the end and I have a friend for life, who will commit crimes with me forever. I need to keep them both informed of my whereabouts because you know, life without crime would be boring and crime without a partner would be worthless.

Thank you God/Allah/Buddha and all the rest, for art, wine and cancelled flights.