It could be the luxury of living in the San Francisco Bay Area. If you live here , you know what I mean and you also know better than to take it for granted. This is the city where you can come and be anonymous without trying too hard. You can blend pretty easily.

I had taken my son Clayton to a San Francisco Giants home game at the then, New Ball Park at 4th & Townsend called Pac Bell Park. We had made our way to the promenade deck where we had lower reserved tickets. Before the game had started. I glanced over at a concession line and saw Tom Waits standing in line with on of his son’s Casey. Our boys were similar in age, so I took my son by the hand and walked over and introduced ourselves to them. Tom was healthy, happy and pleased to talk baseball, sunshine, hotdogs, and the new ball park. It was casual, as we waited in line, and I later asked him what material he was working on? In that sly, graveled Tom Waits voice, he said, “I always have a cat in the bag”. It turned out to be a great day all around!