Fun Day

The place where I've worked for the past 18 years usually has a once per year event called "Fun Day" whereby the entire office gets the afternoon off from working and we do something together that is "fun." Last Wednesday was the latest iteration of this event. Our office party planner, Aimee, created a scavenger type event, whereby the city was divided into four zones and each of the teams were to go to various places in these zones in order to win points. The highest total points leader at the end of the day would be the "winner" and get additional prizes. There were separate prizes for best team name and for the team that spent their $20 to acquire the most items of a toiletry nature. Our team won both of those, accumulating 40 items from a One Dollar store, and the neutral judges at the bar/restaurant where we ended up chose our "Pickpocket Posse" as most imaginative team name. The total point competition was close, with only 12 points separating the four teams. We all received commemorative tee shirts that day too, with the Golden Gate Bridge on the front and the saying "Work hard + Play Harder" on the front (the name of our company is Harder+Company Community Research), so it was a play on words based on the company name.

Our team started from the office, heading towards Twin Peaks. One of the clues in our booklet was to go to the second highest peak in the city and according to Google, it is Twin Peaks. Mt. Davidson is the highest point in the city. On the way, we passed a food truck (another item on the list) on Harrison, so we stopped and bought an item and took the photo with the team members. After that, we saw a Dollar Store on Mission so we stopped and bought our toiletries. We swung through the Castro District, went to a "parklet" at 17th & Market and took a team photo. We also convinced a stranger to hold our flyer so we could take a picture (it was worth extra points to get as many strangers as you could to hold the flyer and take their photo). We swung by Harvey Milk's old camera store (now occupied by the Human Rights Commission office) and picked up their flyer and took our team photo in front of the store. Above the store is a painting of Harvey Milk as if he's looking out a window.

We reached Twin Peaks, took more photos, and then headed to the tile steps at 16th Avenue and Moraga. These 163 steps have ceramic tiles on the riser part of the stairs. We had to locate two tiles in particular and have a group photo taken with all of us at the top. Next up was to see how many bison were in the haddock in Golden Gate Park. We then headed to the old Sutra Baths at Land's End. Next we went to Hayes Valley and got ice cream (made while you wait) by a machine called "Kelvin" (one of the items on our list).

So as you can see, while we were going all over the city visiting the various destinations, the event was really fun. For me, the hard part came when it was winding down at the bar/restaurant. Dennis had always been a part of our Fun Day, and this time, of course, he was not in attendance. He had been the only "spouse" in the company who had been allowed to participate in these events. Once I had the time to just sit and start thinking, it got to me and I had tears rolling down my face because I was missing him so much. I had a lot of support from my co-workers, but eventually, I left earlier than I may have if he had been around. I didn't want to bring everyone down with my feelings starting to change from happy to sad.

Unfortunately, this is the first of numerous "pit days" that are on the horizon for me. Foremost in my mind at the moment is Thanksgiving. I plan to attend by going to Jim and Greg's, but I also know it's going to be an emotional day. And of course, in December we'll be having our office's holiday party, another event that Dennis was always a part of, followed by the Christmas holidays. I know all this "stuff" is just more things I have to go through in this first year of him not being around, but it's difficult. In fact, this whole year has been difficult, but I guess if you've been reading this blog, you've figured that one out already.