George and Joan

As a California expat, I've had to employ certain strategies to keep the California sunshine feeling alive during the cold dark months of winter here. My professional smoothie making abilities aside, I also subscribed to The Daily Om and The Daily Love, and often read them on the subway to and from work.

The other morning I was so excited to see a George Lucas quote in The Daily Love! "The secret is not to give up hope. It's very hard not to because if you're really doing something worthwhile I think you will be pushed to the brink of hopelessness before you come through the other side."

Ah, George. When I lived in San Francisco, George Lucas was a hazy presence in the back of my mind. One of my clients was a student loan provider and I must have mentioned him a few times: "Well, we could involve George Lucas's Foundation - they do so much with education and teachers!" that they would often laugh and say, "So is George Lucas going to be part of this program idea, Laura??"

Whether it was because he was the mind behind "Star Wars" or the conversations between Bill Moyers and Joseph Campbell on Skywalker Ranch in "The Power of Myth" or interviews I had read about the intention of the Lucas Foundation, he was someone I always admired. Never met him, never really wanted to meet him, just liked the idea of knowing that he was just north of me.

Of course in the last couple months I was living in San Francisco I saw him for the first time. I was walking by Tadich Grill and either my friend Karen or Lauren said, "Hey it's George Lucas" and I froze!

The other touchstone that figures large into the other two places I've lived is Joan Didion. My idea of New York and California, was first impressed upon by her essays and books. I first wrote stories in 3rd grade but probably wanted to 'be' a writer, because of Joan. In her essay "GoodBye to All That", Joan first defined what it was like to move to New York when you are young and from a small town, and in other essays first sketched the golden dream of California to me. I read "The Year of Magical Thinking" during time I was grieving a loss, and recently reread "Democracy" last fall, after coming home from a benefit where I wasn't yet vibrating with the careful manners and appearances that sometimes is part of life in New York City.

Like George, never wanted to meet her, but like the idea of knowing that we are neighbors again.