san francisco

Stuckies at Anne's wedding

shared by Natasha Richmond, college friend

Everyone knows that Anaal loved San Francisco, but how did she end up there? I am partially to blame. ;) Anaal is a perfectionist. She had an ideal of how the world should be and how everyone should be. When she went to grad school in Ohio University to study International Development. She thought of micro-lending for women in poor African villages in 2003 before it was even a thing and that's what she wanted to do. Anyway, even idealists have to eat. When she graduated, she had no job prospect and so she moved back with her parents. She was miserable. None of her friends were there and we'd talk on the phone every night. At that time, I was living on my own and working in the East Bay. I remember we were talking one Friday night and she asked what I was doing. I told her that I was going to order some Chinese food and watch a movie. She was so jealous of my plans. I invited her to move in with me and she did!

Anaal and I were roommates in our mid-twenties. I didn't charge Anaal rent but I gave her 3 months to find a job and move out. I prepped her for her first job at Walden House (in SF) and a part of my preparation was having her repeat the mantra, "I was born for this job!" We also shopped for her interview outfit. Even though, Anaal was coming into her own in terms of fashion and we laughed at how while she had cute clothes, none of it was interview appropriate. Though Walden House was not her last job, I think her first job in SF made her fall in love with the city and also gave her career a projection that led her down the path to, eventually, business school.