Sketchbook Cabbie

Moments of Glowing

She’s the most beautiful girl that ever got in my cab. I figure she’s 32 years of age. With long blond hair and the slightest New York accent. The black business suit she wears hangs slipshod and sexy. She holds a papercup of white wine at a tipsy angle. “They kept pouring it for me on the ferry,” she says. This makes her even more sweetly amusing to me. She needs a lift to her houseboat up the Bridgeway in Sausalito.

As I drive, she tells me about her workday, about moving from Park Slope, Brooklyn and how lucky she and her boyfriend are to live here. It’s a one-way conversation, brief and memorable. I pull up to the dock where she lives and ask her for a sip of her wine. As I turn to return the cup, I notice how the sun now peaks through my taxi windshield and bathes her in a warm, gold light. A spotlight she seems to bask in. Her smile reveals a glorious set of teeth. Just then a car behind the cab honks and snaps me out of the momentary euphoria I feel. “I gotta move,” I say. It stops and saddens her, too, I think. This was our moment of communion. It glowed. My radiant girl pays her fare. “Toot, toot,” she goes. ‘Bye, darlin’,” I answer and I’m off to find more experiences like this and maybe take more sips of wine from a papercup.

The Matchmaker and the Con

  I’m always amazed at the diversity of people’s points of view. This morning I took three parolees, after their release from San Quentin prison, from the San Rafael Bus Depot where they get dropped, to the Richmond BART Station on the other side of the bay. The talkative con next to me in the front seat said he needed three things. “Coffee, Micky-Dees and pussy.” Just as informs me, I realize the homies in the black Escalade in the next lane notice my passengers. “Yup, we free now”, the con says, “Dude’s bitch must be workin’.” He figures the driver must be a pimp. I’ll bet my con’s mother never taught him to respect women.

    In the afternoon, I picked up one of our regular customers from Safeway. The elegant Pari is a matchmaker. They call her the Queen of Hearts for the 240 marriages or long-term relationships she’s facillated. ‘It’s good karma”, she says. And I have to agree. She helps to hook people up. It’s good, respectful work. It honors people and their humanity.

    I get all kinds in my cab. I try not to judge. People’s upbringing, hardships and education shape them into who they are and how they think. I just get them where they need to go.

Managing Relationships

Relationships have always intrigued me. My fares today provided some insight into how relationships can work well.  I had the opportunity to drive a husband and wife to the San Francisco Airport…at different times. In the time it took me to drive each one of them from Sausalito to SFO, I learned how this skilled couple manages to navigate their extraordinary lives with tremendous love to successful results.

 

He runs a British online media hub and she’s a healer and psychologist. He was on his way to London for meetings about how to best monetize his content offerings. She was on her way to Patagonia, Arizona to a 7-day fast. I talked with him about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and with her about Carl Jung. He shared that he was successfully treating his Parkinson’s disease with naturopathic remedies. She told me about the devastating argument she had on the beach with her daughter. Today they travel in two different directions in the world. I’m impressed with how they both manage to accommodate each other’s passions and unique contributions.